This lot of copper engraved, Ogilby-style strip road maps includes coats-of-arms and descriptive text by John Owen. The first sheet, pages 209 and 210 from The Road from Oxford to Bristol..., features the title, Owen's description of Oxford University, and a road map that spans from Oxford southwest through Faringdon and into Purton in Wiltshire. The second depicts the northeastern trajectory from Nottingham through Newark-on-Trent and Lincoln to Grimsby on the coast. Beginning in Oxfordshire, the third road map passes through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire on its way to Cambridge. The fourth sheet, pages 215 and 216 from the series The Road from Oxford to Chichester..., includes the title, the arms of sixteen Cambridge colleges and five schools, and a portion of road map that extends from Oxford to Newbury. The final road map also starts in Oxford, moving through Banbury, Coventry, Nuneaton, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch before terminating at Darby. Size varies slightly.

A. [The Road from Oxford to Bristol...], hand color. Condition: A nice impression on watermarked paper with light show-through of text on verso and slight toning along the sheet's edges. (A)
B. [The Road from Nottingham to Grimsby... // A Map of Lincolnshire], black & white. Condition: A fine impression on watermarked paper with light show-through of text on verso and some printer's ink residue. (A)
C. [The Road from Oxford to Cambridg...], black & white. Condition: A crisp impression on a watermarked sheet with light toning, minor soiling, and some tiny chips and short edge tears. (B+)
D. [The Road from Oxford to Chichester...], black & white. Condition: A nice impression on a watermarked sheet with light toning, minor soiling, and some tiny chips and short edge tears. (B+)
E. [The Road from Oxford to Coventry Continued to Derby... // Warwickshire], black & white. Condition: A crisp impression with light scattered foxing and minor show-through of text on verso. (B+)

References: Shirley (BL Atlases) T.BOW-1a.

Condition:

See description above.