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| Chapman & Andre map? | |
|---|---|
| Name | Chapman & Andre map |
| Caption | Early 18th-century county map series by Chapman and Andre |
| Creator | John Chapman; Peter André |
| Date | 1777–1794 |
| Type | County atlas series |
| Location | England; Wales |
Chapman & Andre map?
The Chapman & Andre map series was a late 18th‑century cartographic project produced by John Chapman and Peter André that provided county‑level maps and road information for England and Wales, influencing subsequent works by Edward Williams, John Cary, Christopher Saxton, John Speed, and Ordnance Survey. The series intersected with contemporaneous developments in British mapping such as the Militia Acts, the Roads Act 1766, and commercial publishing by firms like William Faden and R. Sayer and J. Bennett.
Chapman and André produced their atlas during the reign of George III in an era shaped by the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolutionary War, and expanding domestic infrastructure projects like turnpike trusts and canal building under figures such as John Smeaton and institutions like the Board of Ordnance. Cartography in Britain at that time was influenced by earlier surveyors including Christopher Saxton and later contemporaries such as John Rocque and Thomas Jefferys, while publishing networks in London and provincial centers linked to booksellers like John Stockdale. The maps addressed administrative units including counties of England and burghs such as Bristol, York, Norwich, and Bath.
The principal cartographers credited are John Chapman, a London map publisher associated with printmakers in Cornhill, London, and Peter André, a surveyor and engraver with ties to continental craftsmen from The Netherlands and France. Chapman had professional interactions with cartographers like William Faden, Thomas Jefferys, and publishers such as Elizabeth Nutt. André’s engraving and compilation techniques recall methods used by Giacomo Barri and Jacques-Nicolas Bellin; assistants and draughtsmen likely included individuals from workshops linked to St. Paul’s Churchyard and printers serving Royal Society authors.
The atlas covered most English and Welsh counties, depicting principal towns like London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, and Swansea, as well as roads connecting market towns such as Chelmsford, Colchester, Canterbury, and Winchester. Cartographic content included county boundaries, parishes, churches, turnpike roads, canals like the Bridgewater Canal, rivers including the Thames, Severn, and Humber, and topographical notations around uplands such as the Cotswolds and Pennines. Insets and heraldic cartouches referenced institutions such as the Church of England cathedrals in Canterbury Cathedral and York Minster and civic arms of corporations like Gloucester and Exeter.
Chapman and André relied on triangulation techniques related to practices used by William Roy and employed field surveys resembling those of county surveyors connected to the Board of Ordnance and military engineers from campaigns such as the Seven Years' War. They compiled information from earlier series by Saxton, Speed, and provincial cartographers, legal documents like assize rolls, and commercial road guides similar to those by John Ogilby and publishers like John Cary. Engraving followed copperplate conventions practiced by Robert Sayer and print finishing in workshops near Fleet Street.
Published in serial county issues and later bound as atlases by Chapman and André from the late 1770s into the 1790s, distribution used London booksellers and provincial agents such as those in Bath, York, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Contemporary reception noted utility for magistrates, landowners tied to estates like those of Earl of Derby and Duke of Devonshire, and merchants in Portsmouth and Bristol; reviews and mentions appeared alongside travel literature by authors like Daniel Defoe and guidebooks influenced by Thomas Pennant. Competing products by John Cary and editions from William Faden shaped market dynamics.
Multiple states and revisions exist, with plates reworked over years analogous to practices used by John Rocque and reissued by successors including Edward Weller and Henry Teesdale. Surviving copies are held by institutions such as the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Library of Scotland, regional archives in Cheshire Record Office and Devon Heritage Centre, and private collections formerly belonging to collectors like Samuel Lysons. Auction records feature sales at houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's.
The Chapman and André series influenced 19th‑century mapping, informing compilation methods for the Ordnance Survey and influencing cartographers such as John Arrowsmith and Aaron Arrowsmith. Its combination of road information, county detail, and engraved presentation set precedents echoed in atlases by John Murray and in regional studies by antiquarians like William Camden and John Aubrey. Historical geographers and antiquarians in the 20th and 21st centuries, including researchers at the Royal Geographical Society and university departments at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, continue to consult Chapman and André plates for studies of pre‑industrial transport, settlement, and administrative geography.
Category:Historic maps