148 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



engraved, until that department secured a staff and offices of 

 its own. 



Contemporary with Faden was John Gary, who maintained 

 a high standard of excellence in his maps and globes. Both 

 these men gave much attention to preparing new maps of 

 the British Isles, utilizing the numerous county surveys, and 

 later the early editions of the Ordnance Survey sheets, besides 

 adding much detail from their own work. Gary in particular 

 paid attention to the rapidly developing system of communica- 

 tions; in 1794, he was engaged by the Postmaster General to 

 supervise the survey of some nine thousand miles of turnpike 

 roads in Britain. The results were incorporated in various 

 road books and county atlases, the latest and largest of which 

 was the folio 'New English Atlas' of 1809. 



But the man who established the international reputation of 

 British cartography was undoubtedly Aaron Arrowsmith. A 

 native of Winston, Durham, Arrowsmith was typical of the 

 generation which gave Britain its lead in the technical revolution 

 of the eighteenth century. With no advantages of birth, or 

 systematic education, he acquired a knowledge of mathematics, 

 and of the theories of map projections, and through a long 

 apprenticeship became proficient in the practical technique of 

 map production. He came to London in 1770, and worked for 

 some time as a land surveyor; as such he is described on Gary's 

 'Map of the Great Post-Roads between London and Falmouth' 

 of 1784, for which he was largely responsible. It is possible that 

 it was in Gary's establishment that he learned the technique 

 of map engraving. However that may be, he set up for himself 

 as a cartographer and map publisher some time before April 

 1790. His first publication, a chart of the world on Mercator's 

 projection, which when mounted had the considerable dimen- 

 sions of 5 ft. by 8 ft. 4 in., was an immediate success. This 

 included the tracks of the most important navigators since the 

 year 1700, all "regulated from the accurate astronomical 

 observations" taken on the three voyages of Gapt. James 

 Gook. 



It was his proficiency in 'regulating' observations from 

 varied sources and in fitting together sketch maps or reports 

 by numerous explorers and travellers that gave Arrowsmith 



