A map of the County of Devon with the City & County of Exeter : [northwest sheet]

Description

Printed map. "Delineated from an actual survey, by Benjamin Donn. Engraved by Thos. Jefferys, geographer to His Majesty." Two visual scales [175 mm = 7 Statute Miles, approximately]. Insets: "The Island of Lundy. On the same scale as the general map", "A plan of the town and citadel of Plymouth", "A plan of Stoketown, and Plymouth Dock". Described in Smith, Antique Maps of the British Isles, page 66 [regarding the Royal Society of Arts offer of 100 pounds for large scale county maps]: "The first map submitted for the award was Isaac Taylor's Dorset which was rejected because its place-names were often inaccurate; and so the first prizewinner was the Bideford mathematics teacher, Benjamin Donn, for his 12-sheet map of Devon of 1765... Donn's map set new standards of accuracy with its application of scientific surveying techniques and its 5 ½ year measurement of over 6000 miles of roads and rivers." Acquired as part of the Lord Cholmondely collection.