Cary’s Traveller’s Companion

A beautiful set of eighteenth century travelling maps of England and Wales by distinguished cartographer John Cary. The publication consists of 40 county maps (including a large, foldout map of Yorkshire) and two maps of Wales, with various roads and pathways handsomely marked in alternative colours. The final section contains an alphabetical list of market towns, with notes of the days on which markets ran – useful for a traveller hoping to encounter the colourful markets of each county hamlet.


John Cary (c. 1754–1835) was a cartographer, engraver and globe maker, and his maps emerged in the late eighteenth century at a time when roads were used as never before, and accurate road maps were becoming essential. Cary’s craftsmanship enabled him to produce maps that were both accurate and explicit, and they were celebrated in his day – his plates were used by other publishers far into the 19th century. Aside from British maps, Cary also produced maps of India and Australia, included in Cary’s New Universal Atlas of 1808.