32 
H. G. FORD HAM—HERTFORDSHIRE MAPS. 
“A Mapp of Hartfordshire with its Hundreds By Bic Blome.” 
In the left-hand bottom corner, “ A scale of 6 miles.” 
From ‘ Britannia: or, a Geographical Description of the Kingdoms 
of England, Scotland, and Ireland .... Illustrated with a Map 
of each County of England, besides several General ones.’ London, 
1673, folio. It is dedicated to Charles II, and contains a map of 
London before the Fire by W. Hollar. The author says in his 
preface that the maps are taken from Speed—his maps being the 
best then extant—and that he does not pretend to a new Survey. 
Gough, in his ‘Anecdotes of British Topography’ (1768), p. 24, 
calls this work “a most notorious piece of plagiarism.” In 
general it is a very poor and badly engraved reproduction of the 
older maps. The general map of “The Isles of Great Brittaine,” 
drawn by Sanson, and dated London, 1669, is based on the 
meridian of the Azores. 
Eight hundred and twelve coats of arms of the “Benefactors 
and Promoters of the worke” are printed at the beginning of the 
volume, in 24 sheets, and at the end there are lists of the 
“ Nobility and Gentry, which are (or lately were) related unto 
the several Counties of England and Wales,” which runs to 
120 pages, and this latter the author refers to in his preface 
as the only original matter in the volume. 
[Blaeu, 1648.] 
