Detailed map of the environs of London to a radius of about thirty miles, bounded by Stevenage in the north, Chidingfold, Ifield, East Grinstead and Cranbrook in the south, Farnham on the west and Braintree, Rochester, Maidstone and Cranbrook in the east.
John Andrews was a land surveyor, mapmaker and publisher active in London from the 1760s onwards. Nothing is known of his background, but he was very probably of French Huguenot extraction, working under an Anglicized name.
This densely engraved map, surveyed at about three-eighths of an inch to one statute mile, was first published in 1782. The map is complete in its own right with borders on all four sides, but Andrews was very canny about engraving maps, so that they could be used for a variety of different purposes. It is likely that this maps also formed the central sheet of a nine-sheet map of the environs of London (South-east England), as well as being the index map for a twenty sheet map of the environs of London (hence the engraved plate number at top right).
When issued as a single-sheet map, it generally had a title added, printed from a second printing plate, pasted along the upper border. However, this sheet bore prominent credit to Andrews, with his shop address. This example was sold by the mapseller John Wallis, who chose to omit that title, with the reference to his rival publisher.
The map sold originally for four shillings old money or 20 pence decimal currency.
Howgego, Printed Maps of London, 172, (1).
