22 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
1605-10. John Speed was a publisher only. His maps were
copied from, or based on, Saxton, Norden and other engravers,
and were reprinted again and again over a period of more than
a century. In all, he published 67 maps.
1610. William Kip published a map of Essex in 1610; it
is based on that of Saxton.
Circa 1645. Blaeu. The Blaeu family of Amsterdam for
three generations were prolific map-publishers, covering three-
quarters of the 17th century; their works at Amsterdam were
destroyed by fire in 1672, when most of the engraved plates
perished. Their map of Essex, with German letterpress,
appeared circa 1645.
1673. Richard Blome was "a publisher of some celebrity"
in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, whose business
methods seem to have been much criticised; a contemporary
writer said of him, "this person Blome is esteemed by the
chiefest heralds a most impudent person, and the late industrious
Garter hath told me that he gets a livelihood by bold practices."
By skill in obtaining subscribers to his publications, Blome
issued many splendid works, including books on heraldry,
maps, and on other and very diverse subjects. His folio work
entitled Britannia : or a Geographical Description of the Kingdoms
of England, Scotland and Ireland .... illustrated with a Map of
each county of England was published in 1673. Blome died
in 1705.
1675. John Ogilby in this year published his Britannia, the
first really useful road-book. It contained strip-maps of main
roads, showing routes and mileages, bridges, hills, streams,
forests and the direction of each by-road. It was really accurate,
as Ogilby traversed each main-road with a dimensurator (a
wheel fitted with a ten-mile-long cord), and every stretch of road
was surveyed by him personally. His work served many genera-
tions until superseded long after by that of Cary, Paterson and
Moll.
1695. Robert Morden, who published a map of Essex in
this year, was a printseller "at the Atlas in Cornhill" from
1685 to 1720. His map tabulates the various Hundreds and
shows the main roads; but it is only a compilation based on the
work of older cartographers. In some degree Morden admits
this, for he wrote "I know that this wants the Helps and Advan-
tages of a more Learned Pen; and indeed it ought to have been
freed from those frequent associations and disturbances that
attend a publick Shop and Trade."
Circa 1722. John Warburton (1682-1759), Somerset Herald,
published maps from actual surveys of Essex and other counties,
about 1722 or 1723. Warburton was a Lancashire man, not