A superb antique road map designed for the horse and rider published in the Gentleman's Magazine of October 1766 comprising three separate routes from London to Harwich, Bury St. Edmunds and Yarmouth

The first journey, shown in four continuous strips, begins in London and continues in a north easterly direction through  Romford, Chelmsford, Colchester and ends in Harwich - a total distance of 70 miles. The second route begins in Chelmsford and covers the 43 miles to St.Edmunds Bury. The third route begins in Colchester and ends on the coast at Yarmouth by way of Ipswich, a distance of 72 miles

Every mile of the road is marked as well as notable churches, castles, pubs, mansions, towns, rivers, windmills, forests, hills etc - the rider would have been grateful to know the expected terrain.

The map is the work of cartographer John Gibson who worked for the Gentleman's Magazine at the time even though he spent most of his life in prison - see below

Good condition with vertical folds as published. Later hand coloring.

Map size 7 x 12 inches 

This is an original antique map published 260 years ago and not a reproduction . 

John Gibson (cartographer)


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Gibson (flourished in London 1750 to his death in 1792) was an English cartographer, geographer, draughtsman and engraver.[1]

Accurate Map of His R.H. the Duke of York's Journey thro' Italy in 1763 & 1764 by John Gibson - The Gentleman's Magazine

Recognized as an important late eighteenth-century British cartographer, a contemporary of Jacques-Nicolas Bellin and skilled engraver,[2] spent most of his life in prison because of several debts, however, produced thousands of maps and its best-known work in 1758 was called the pocket atlas Atlas Minimus.[3][4] He worked also for the Gentleman's Magazine[5] for which engraved different decorative maps. He also published his own work in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, The Universal Museum and The Universal Traveller.