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Map Notes
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NOTES from BICKHAM'S BRITISH MONARCHY, 1748
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These notes are made from an atlas, The British Monarchy,
county maps of Britain etc, by George Bickham, published London
1743 onwards. The atlas studied is the facsimile edition:-
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Bickham, George & Graham, Frank
(ed): 1967 & 1748 (original): British Monarchy: Frank Graham
(Newcastle upon Tyne):: ISBN 0 90049 02 9
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map type: HantsMap & Bickham 1750
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The editor's notes give background information about the atlas
which began to appear from 1743. My notes are strongly biased to
a Hampshire interest in maps, and are NOT a comprehensive study
of the atlas.
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Frontispiece
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The frontispiece has an illustration of Britannia engraved by
Gravelot. She sits against a pillar, near St Paul's in London. In
her right hand is a plant, in her left a spear, and there is an
oval shield below with the cross of St George. A caption
reads:-
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Fair Britain thus in stately Pomp appears: / Her Might and
Majesty the World revers. / From Pole to Pole She hears her Acts
resound / And rules an Empire by no Ocean bound.
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Title Page
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The title page reads:-
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THE British Monarchy: Or, a New Chorographical Description Of all
the Dominions Subject to the KING of GREAT BRITAIN. Comprehending
The British Isles, The Electoral States, The American Colonies,
The African and Indian Settlements. And enlarging more
particularly on The respective Counties of ENGLAND and WALES. To
which are added ALPHABETS In all Hands made use of in this Book.
The Whole Illustrated with suitable Maps and Tables; likewise,
adorned with Head-Pieces, and other Embellishments; and Engrav'd
by George Bickham.
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GB Fecit
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Publish'd according to Act of Parliament, October 1st. 1748. and
Sold by G. Bickham in James Street, Bunhill-Fields, & by the
Booksellers and Printsellers in Town & Country.
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All this in flowing calligraphy. George Bickham was a renowned
engraved of fine penmanship and wrote a series of articles on
calligraphy.
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General Map
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There is a small general map:-
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A Map of the South Part of Great Britain, Called England and
Wales. ... G Bickham Fecit
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orientation
compass rose
up is N
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Printed upper right of centre is a compass rose; star points
for the cardinal directions, lines for half cardinal and false
points, North marked by a fleur de lys, East by a cross. The map
is printed with North at the top of the page.
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lat and long scales
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Printed in the map borders are scales of latitude and
longitude; chequered at 10 minutes intervals, labelled at
degrees, from a prime meridian in the Atlantic at about 28d W
from Greenwich.
longitude, Winchester = 26d 50m E
approximately
The projection implied is a trapezoidal projection, the top
and bottom longitude scales are different, BUT the top scale is
wider than the bottom - this is the wrong way round. Presumably
the engraver doesn't understand what he is doing.
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Church of England
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Hampshire is listed within:-
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The Province of Canterbury
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WINCHESTER, Hampshire, Surrey, the Iles of Wight, Guernsey, and
Jersey.
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Chart of the Sea Coast
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With his general description of Britain, Bickham gives:-
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Printed at the top:-
A Chart of the Sea Coast.
and at the bottom:-
This Chart shews all the Sea Coasts of
England and Wales with the Royal Docks, Fortifications Harbours
Sands. &c.
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Like his other maps this is sort of in perspective; in fact it
looks very 'flat' and its poor mapping is only slightly
alleviated by a scene of ships near the shore, at the lower edge
of the engraving.
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The shape of the coast line of Hampshire is not well drawn.
The islands of Portsea and Hayling are poorly engraved, and so
the harbours are not clear - even though Portsmouth Harbour is
the Royal Navy's major base, a part of what the map intends to
show. Southampton Water is hardly to be recognised. The places
relevant to Hampshire are, west to east along the shore:-
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| place |
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map's name |
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| Christchurch |
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Christ Church |
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| Hurst Castle, Milford on Sea |
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Hurst Castle |
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| Calshot Castle, Fawley |
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Caisnot |
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| Southampton |
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Southampton |
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| Block House Fort, Gosport |
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Block House F. |
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| Portsmouth |
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Portsmouth |
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| Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth |
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Royl Dock |
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| Southsea Castle. Portsmouth |
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South Sea C. |
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| Spithead |
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SPITHEAD |
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Headpieces
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Several headpieces in the atlas include illustrations of
scientific instruments, particularly surveying instruments. The
headpiece to the Introduction, p.40, is a good example. Ten
cherubs are busy in a classical landscape with broken pillar,
blocks of stone, etc. They are surveyors and geometers. Two on
the left are fiddling with a theodolite, a proper altazimuth
instrument, the telescope is clearly mounted with a scale to
measure its vertical angle. The instrument is unsteady on its
tripod. Another two are looking at a diagram engraved of circle
and inscribed square; one hopes that they are not trying to
square the former. Another cherub holds an outline map on a slab
- meant to be England and Wales, but no high marks for the
depiction. His companion lounges, bored, by the slab. Two more
cherubs are more seriously regarding a diagram of Pythagoras's
theorem; squares erected on the sides of a right triangle and the
construction lines for the geometrical proof. It's difficult to
see if they've got it right. The last pair of cherubs are in the
background surveying with a horizontal protractor on a three
legged stand.
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Introduction
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The introduction to the county maps comments on the order of
presentation:-
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In the several Descriptions of the Counties of England that have
been hitherto published, we have observed that two Methods have
been followed by different Authors: The one, to place them
Alphabetically, without regard to their Situation; and the other,
to follow the Order of their Situation, without regard to the
Alphabet, beginning at the South West & continuing to the South
East, & so taking them, as they lie in Lines, quite up to the
North.
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We were advised to follow the latter of these Methods, as much
the most Natural. A near similitude of Soil, Produce and Manners
may be expected, & will be usually found in Countries that lie
Contiguous, which will all gradually change as we proceed: But to
leap at once from Northamptonshire to Northumberland, Or, which
is much farther, from Cornwall to Cumberland, as we must in the
Alphabetical Way, is to be continually carrying the Reader into a
New World, in order, perhaps, to bring him back again the next
Page.
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We might mention, that Moll's County Maps run in our Order.
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An insight to atlas planning. The contiguous order seems to
assume that the reader is busy reading from one end of the atlas
to the other; not dipping in for one county at a time, which is
more easily found alphabetically. There is also an underlying
assumption that it is possible to list, in one dimension, in a
sensible order, a set of areas in two dimensions that are not in
a simple array.
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Household Gods
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The description of Wiltshire is illustrated with engravings of
a group of household gods:-
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At the Devizes, in this County, were found A.D. 1714, and
supposed to have been buried there in 234, these Household Gods,
in Number 19, with a Medal of Alexander Severus; which Pieces of
Antiquity are here exhibited, being great Curiosities.
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Some of these household gods were used by Hermann Moll, 1724,
as side illustrations on his map of Hampshire. The two sets of
pictures are curiously different; they are reversed from each
other. The reversal is the sort of thing that an engraver might
get wrong; for example by copying from a copper plate and
reversing again out of habit? While the head on the coin of
Severus Alexander is reversed, the inscription is not. I would
guess that these engravings are copied from those on Herman
Moll's map of Hampshire, 1724.
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More information about the figures is found in Musgrave 1719
and Boon 1972; or:-
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notes: MUSGRAV1.txt
-- descriptive text -- household gods |
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The figurines were numbered by Musgrave; in Bickham
illustration the corresponding figures are laid out roughly
as:-
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1 10 8 5
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2 11 9 16
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3 13 4 7
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- 18 19 14
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17 16 15
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-- 12 --
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The same numbers are used on plates 57/58 by Boon. Some of the
figures are now in the British Museum; others are lost.
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REFERENCES
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Bickham, George: 1733=1741:
Universal Penman: (London)
Boon, George C: 1972: Genius and
Lar in Celtic Britain: Jahrbuch des Roemisch-Germanuschen
Zentralmuseums (Mainz, Germany):: pp.265-269 and plates
Musgrave, William: 1719:
Antiquitates Britanno-Belgae & Belgio Britannico, De (vol.1):
(Exeter, Devon): vol.1: pp.123-152 and plates
Schire, D: 1966: (article on
Bickham's British Monarchy): Map Collector's Circle
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list of map notes |
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map type Bickham 1750 -- menu of resources |
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HantsMap Notes -- BICKHAM2.txt
MN: 29.7.2002
last edit: 30.7.2002
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