Welsh Journals

THE PRINTED MAPS OF CARDIGANSHIRE, 1578-1900, IN THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES A DESCRIPTIVE LIST WITH A TABULAR INDEX BIBLIOGRAPHICAL examination of the printed maps of England and Wales dates from about the beginning of the present century with the researches of Sir H. G. Fordham, which include his studies of Welsh road books published in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1927. In addition, county catalogues and lists relating to England have been published by many of the county archaeological and historical societies, and many cartographical studies relating to Wales, by Dr. F. J. North, have appeared amongst the publications of the National Museum of Wales. A list of the printed maps of Merioneth issued between 1578 and 1900 has been published in the journal of the Historical and Record Society of that county. The following list is an attempt at presenting in as complete a form as possible the printed maps relating to Cardiganshire which are filed separately or contained in atlases and other works in the National Library of Wales. It may be added here that the National Library possesses also extensive and interesting collections of estate and other maps in manuscript relating to the county and it is hoped that a complete list of these will be available for publication at a later date. The aim of the present list is to supply all the bibliographical data whereby the reader may identify any particular map of the county as regards its origin, date, compiler, engraver, publisher, and edition. There are, doubtless, other maps or other editions of maps not at present included in the National Library's collections, and information regarding any such items would be welcomed in order to fill in omissions in the following list. With a few exceptions the printed maps of Cardiganshire are found in the numerous atlases and topographical works relating both to England and Wales and to Wales alone. Modern cartography can be said to date from the great output of topographical and cartographical works which followed the discoveries of the Elizabethan age. The first modern map of England and Wales was the work of a Welshman, Humphrey Lhuyd, of Denbigh, who also compiled a map of Wales which was first published in the 1573 edition of Ortelius's Atlas. A few years later, in 1579, Christopher Saxton published his famous Atlas this work contained surveys of the English and Welsh counties which he made between 1572 and 1578 at the request of his patron, Thomas Seckford, and under the authority of the Queen. His maps formed the basis for successive cartographers for over a hundred years.