6 
H. G. FORDHAM-HERTFORDSHIRE MAPS. 
complete series of county maps. • Beginning with Seller and 
Oliver in 1676, and commencing the new century with Robert 
Morden, who, in his turn, was succeeded by Kitchin, Bowen, and 
others, we come at length to the more finished, accurate, and 
modern-looking maps of Warburton, Bury and Andrews, Ellis, 
and Cary. Bowen and Kitchin’s maps are notable for the large 
amount of letterpress description and historical matter inserted 
on the face of the maps and in the margins. These series of 
maps are also characterized by the insertion of roads, and their 
gradual development as one of the most important features of the 
design. Ogilby’s maps, indeed (1675), are nothing more than 
pictorial itineraries, consisting of long strips showing the roads 
with notes and details of the geographical features of the adjacent 
country. The title of Ogilby’s ‘ Britannia ’ gives a good idea of 
his work; * it was dedicated to Charles II. 
The maps of this period, though very much more numerous 
and varied than those which preceded them, require no detailed 
notice here. Particulars will be found in the Catalogue itself. 
In the nineteenth century the Ordnance Survey gave an exact 
basis for all maps, and an era of uniformity naturally set in, the 
interest of originality of design and ornament disappearing almost 
entirely. 
The surveying, so far as the work of triangulation is concerned, 
was commenced in 1784, and the first sheet of the one-inch map 
was published on the 1st of January, 1801. It may perhaps be 
noticed how very closely the style of Cary’s maps was followed 
by the Survey, a tribute to the excellence of his work. 
It will be seen from the foregoing that the era of county maps 
(1579-1900) is roughly divisible into three periods, distinguishable 
by the character of the maps and the scientific and artistic 
excellence of the work produced. The first period is one of 
considerable pictorial effect, with but little geographical detail or 
accuracy. The earlier map-makers found large scope for ornamen¬ 
tation in the poverty of their actual geographical knowledge, and 
habitually filled all blank spaces in their designs with ornaments 
of one kind or another. Thus the sea is usually decorated with 
ships, sometimes engaged in naval warfare, and with marine 
monsters and grotesque and allegorical figures; scrolls, coats of 
arms, and emblematic and historic figures are also largely utilized. 
Their maps contain, in general, indications of towns and villages, 
with the boundaries of the counties and hundreds, and show the 
* ‘ Britannia, Volume the First, or, an Illustration of the Kingdom of 
England and Dominion of Wales : By a Geographical and Historical Description 
of the Principal Boads thereof Actually Admeasured and Delineated in a Century • 
of Whole-Sheet Copper-Sculps. Accomodated With the Ichnography of the 
Several Cities and Capital Towns ; and compleated By an Accurate Account of 
the more Remarkable Passages of Antiquity, Together with a novel Discourse 
of the Present State.’ By John Ogilhy, Esq: His Majesty’s Cosmographer, 
and Master of His Majesty’s Bevels in the Kingdom of Ireland. London, 
Printed by the Author at his House in White-Fryers, m.dc.lxxv (large 
folio). 
