THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. V. 



No. III.—MAECH, 1898. 



a:Ei,xG-xisrjiL.Tj j^^irttoxj-es. 



I. — The Earliest Engraved Geological Maps of England 



AND Wales. 

 By Professor J. W. Judd, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., "V.P.G.S., etc. 



IN a previous article/ a sketch has been given of what is known 

 concerning the origin and history of the early manuscript maps 

 of "William Smith. I have shown that concerning these maps, 

 though they were not published, in the technical sense of that term, 

 there exists a satisfactory body of external evidence with regard to 

 the period of their preparation, while they furnish in themselves 

 abundant proofs that they must have been constructed at the dates 

 inscribed upon them. These facts have been so generally recognized 

 that — since the clear statements on the question which have been made 

 by Fitton, Farey, Sedgwick, and Phillips — no one has ever thouglit 

 of either questioning the antiquity of the maps or denying to 

 William Smith the honour of being the first to construct a true 

 geological map of England and Wales. 



But I find that, even with regard to the later maps and sections 

 of William Smith, which were actually engraved and published, 

 there still exists a certain amount of uncertainty. Maps have been 

 publicly ascribed to Smith, with the preparation of which he 

 certainly had nothing to do ; while, on the other hand, some of the 

 most important works issued by hini have altogether failed to attract 

 the attention which they deserve. 



Immediately after the preparation of the Manuscript Map of 

 England and Wales in 1801, the question of its publication, on 

 a larger scale, was seriously taken in hand by Smith and his friends. 

 A prospectus dated Mitford, near Bath, June 1st, 1801, was prepared 

 by William Smith, and extensively circulated by Debrett of 

 Piccadilly (opposite to Burlington House), asking for subscribers 

 to a work that was to be entitled "Accurate Delineations and 

 Descriptions of the Natural Order of the various Strata that are 

 found in different parts of England and Wales, with Practical 

 Observations thereon." The author promised that this work should 

 contain "a correct map of the strata, describing the general course 



1 Geological Magazine, n.s., Dec. lY, Yol. lY (1897), p. 439. 



DECADE lY. YOL. Y. NO. III. 7 



