Taylor & Skinner Atlas 1783

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• Title - Taylor & Skinner's Maps of The Roads of Ireland / Surveyed 1777 Corrected Down to 1783 / The Second Edition.
  
• Cartographer - George Taylor & Andrew Skinner.
• Date - 1783
• Size - 8vo
  
• Condition - Large General map of Ireland a bit frayed and missing a piece top right, title page a little worn and browned. Other wise all 289 maps are in excellent order, fresh and bright. Good tight modern half leather binding. Marbled boards. Over all very good.

Extraordinary Taylor & Skinner Atlas of The Roads of Ireland 1783 - Second Edition

Wonderful example of Taylor & Skinner's scarce atlas. 289 detailed strip maps to the roads of Ireland. This remarkable and exceptionally rare publication was the second and corrected edition of the first book of road maps of Ireland. Originally published in 1778, the authors felt it necessary to reissue the title quickly to correct deficiencies.

Taylor and Skinner had originally been surveyors in Aberdeen, and came to work in Ireland in the late 1770s, before eventually heading west to settle in America. They published a similar work to this one Maps of the Roads of Scotland and North Britain in 1776.

Financing the Atlas 

Although assisted financially by the 'Commissioners for the Forfeited Estates', (Scotland) and by subscriptions (mainly from the landed gentry whose names and properties were shown along many of the roads) they nonetheless reported that nearly 1500 copies of their Survey were unsold in 1778, and they therefore had debts still to repay. Probably one reason for their peripathetic activities.

These maps of The Roads of Ireland were commissioned by the House of Commons in Ireland, and contain 289 pages of maps. The index for these detailed maps shows distances in English and Irish miles. The maps themselves show copious topographical details, such as forests, hills, farm land, mills, houses, churches, estates etc. The large houses also give the owners names. There is a subscription and name index at the back detailing every name recorded on the maps. This edition also contains a new large-scale 'accurate' map of Ireland.

Ground-breaking Publication 

Taylor and Skinner's road maps of Ireland (and their books for Scotland, England and the USA) were a phenomenal achievement in their day, although not always a commercial success at the time, as in Scotland, they remain an essential inclusion in any serious collection and an imperative for late eighteenth century research.

Scarce and Important Irish Atlas 

Reference :  Bonar Law - Pg22-23, No.A31

Item ID: 15383-0

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