notes ADAMS1.txt

Adams 1677


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		NOTES from ADAMS'S MAP of ENGLAND, 1677
	These notes are made from the map of England with Reputed Distances, Angliae Totius Tabula cum Distantiis Notioribus in Itinerantium Usum Accommodata, by John Adams, London, 1677. The item studied is in the British Library, item K.Top.V.82. This example of the map is in a later state, with the imprint of Phillip Lea, and dedicated to William III.
	The map size is: wxh, sheet = 201x189.5cm; wxh, map = 1771x1772mm excluding the outer decorative border. The map is 12 pieces, 3 across x 4 up, mounted together. Any measurements from the map, given below, will have errors from this mounting.
		Conception
	The idea of this thematic map was conceived when John Adams was working with a Mr Lloyd of Shropshire, who was planning a fishery on the welsh coast. John Adams said:-
	I endeavoured to compute what sale he might probably make in the neighbouring markets, by Projecting a Specimen, wherein making Aberdovey, a village on the Coast of Merionethshire, the first Landing place, I set down all the Markets within a hundred miles and entered the distance between them in Figures: and shortly after, coming to London, I made a Draught of all England and Wales in like manner, which being seen and approved by several knowing and judicious persons, I engraved upon Copper Plates, and finished a large Map of England, in Trinity Term, 1677, with computed and measured miles entered in Figures.
		MAP FEATURES

	title map maker engraver	Printed at the top is:- ANGLIAE TOTIUS TABULA CUM DISTANTIIS NOTIORIBUS IN ITINERANTIUM USUM ACCOMMODATA Printed lower right:- Iohannes Adams INTERIORIS TEMPLI IUNIOR SOCIUS descripsit Printed lower, right of centre:- Thomas Burnford lineas Ellipses & Circulos sculpsit

	coat of arms, royal dedication	Printed upper right is the royal coat of arms of William III, the Stuart coat of arms plus an inescutcheon with the arms of Nassau, and a dedication:- SERENISSIMO AC POTENTISSIMO PRINCIPI DNo. GULIELMO III. DEI GRATIA MAGNA BRITANNIAE, FRANKIAE ET HIBERNIAE REGI, FIDEI DEFENSORI, ETC. HANC TABULAM REGIARUM VIARUM INDICEM HUMILIME CONSECRA PHILLIPUS LEA

	table of symbols foliage cartouche	Printed in a foliage cartouche, right, below centre:- THE DESIGN OF This Map is to give an Account of Roads, and Distances without Scale or Compass. ROADS are represented by strait parallel lines. COMPUTED DISTANCES are included in small Circles, as From CANTERBURY to Feversham Eight Miles ELLIPSES with figures therein express both Computation and Measure as From SHREWSBURY to Welchpole Twelve Miles by Computation and Nineteen Miles by Measure: From Shrewsbury to Wenlock Eight Miles by Computation and Thirteen Miles two Furlongs by Measure ... The POST ROADS of England are distinguished from Other Roads by a prickt line in the midle, and the Computation of the Post Office is entred therein and the vulgar omitted if differing from the Post Account ... ... Printed left below centre is:- THIS MAP IS A Projection of ENGLAND and WALES, and of the Cities, Market Towns, and the most considerable Villages therein. CITIES are contained in Oblong Squares with a double line ... MARKET TOWNS either Oblong Squares with a single line ... Or in Ellipses with a double line ... VILLAGES in Ellipses with a single line ... The several Starrs denote the Center of the place mentioned ... (Looking at the map it is clear that the 'stars' are used as centres to draw the straight line joins.) Parallels of Latitude are drawn at every Five minutes East and West. The North and South line passing through London is made the Prime Meridian: And Longitude is computed Easterly and Westerly from thence in Minutes of Longitude and Difference of Time ... ... You may find the several Places named in the description by the intersection of the Lines of Latitude and Longitude which you may see in the Compartment Corresponding with this, on the East side of the Map. The places are named in a companion work, an Index Villaris. Printed lower right, in the corresponding panel:- Hanc Tabulam tibi offero, Amice Lector, & ut Proiectionis Ratio tibi melius innotescat; Scias quod Supporo Meridianum, Tabulam bisecantem, Segmentum Solstitialis Coluri representare & Distantiam inter Parallelos 52 grad 30 min & 53 grad 30 min aequare Pedem apud Anglo usitatum & sic ad Calculum reduxi quod Tabula est Segmentum Planisphaerii cuius Radius aequat 91,741 Pedes, Perimeter vero 576,426 Pedes, Et in Constructione Paralleli Quinquaginta & trium Graduum verum eius Flexuram secundum Regulas Stereographicas Proiecti, omnesq; alios Parallelos etiam aequidistantes Designavi ut Scale aequalium Partium melius admittatur; Et ad eandem rationem Meridiani secantunum eundemq; Parallelum ad aequales distantias, Septentrionem vero versus aproximare Designantur secundum veram inqiolibet Gradu & Parallelo Proporsionem. Addo, quod in hac tabula Quinque Minuta Latitudinis aequantunum Anglicum Digitum, & duodecem Digiti unum Pedem, quorum 5280 Anglicum Miliare constituunt. This description of the projection and the projection were studied by Ravenhill, 1978, who concluded that it is a conical modification to an equatorial stereographic projection ... which would have taken a lot of time in calculations.

	lat and long scales	The map has scales of latitude and longitude; chequered in one minute intervals, labelled in 10 minute intervals. 1d latitude = 302.2 mm The map includes from 2d 40m E to 6d 50m W, 50d 5m to 55d 45m N; England and Wales, part of Scotland and the edge of Ireland.

	sea areas sea plain	The sea is plain; some sea areas are labelled, eg:- THE BRITISH OCEAN OR CHANNEL Spithead

	coast line coast shaded headlands harbours	The coast line is shaded. A few headlands are noticed, and a very few harbours

	rivers	The map in its first state showed little but settlements and routes. Rivers were added later, wiggly lines, with form lines where wider; some are named, eg:- SOLVEUS F.

	county	County boundaries are dotted lines. The county areas are labelled, eg:- WESTMORLAND

	settlements	Settlements are labelled in cartouches, circular or elliptical, double or single lines, as explained in a panel on the map (not used in the sketch below). The positions of the settlements are marked by a star in each cartouche, and these were used when the straight line joins were drawn.

	roads road distances post roads	The joins from settlement to settlement show distances from place to place; on each join there is a cartouche with the crow flight distance between the places in computed miles or measured miles and furlongs. Joins are not made just for close neighbours, which might represent routes, but also show direct joins between places further apart. The resulting confusion of lines and distance figures has to be seen to be fully appreciated: this is not a road map. However: at a local level the map is quite readable; and it is not difficult to follow a track and to add distances. The map works, but the reader must stay aware that road distances are always longer than direct distances. The post roads are specially picked out by a dotted line between the double line. In Cumbria there are two post roads:- from the south through Lancaster, Lancashire; then Burton to Kendal, Westmorland. from the east through Bowes, Durham; then Brough, Appleby, Penrith to Carlisle, Cumberland.
		Connections
	An example of the connection of places is:-

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