80B William Faden / James Wyld 1816

Note: updated 2023

William Faden (1749-1836) was an industrious mapseller in Charing Cross, London. However, unlike some of his contemporaries he also took pains to produce new maps and not just copy others´ material although he did, however, publish a map of Devon at roughly ¼ ” to a mile based on Benjamin Donn´s work and engraved by Benjamin Baker (see 62). He is known to have produced a large-scale map of Kent in 1801 at a quality that would only be reproduced later by the Ordnance Survey.

The map below was originally only known with the imprint of James Wyld and was wrongly attributed to him (formerly 109); however, a new edition has come to light. In 1816 William Faden published a map of Devon at the ½” scale, but at a quality similar to that of the OS or comparable with the Cary/Palmer map of 1813 (80).

James Wyld the Elder (1790-1836) founded the firm acquiring William Faden’s business in 1823 including his shop at 457 West Strand. In 1830 Wyld senior was joined by his son, James Wyld the Younger (1812-1887), a Master of the Clothworkers Company and subsequently MP for Bodmin 1847-52 and 1857-68. The Wyld family were very influential in the world of cartography throughout the 19th century. James Wyld senior became Geographer to His Majesty and HRH Duke of York and was a founder member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. He is credited with introducing lithography into map printing in his plans of the Peninsula Campaign in 1812. Among the firm’s most curious works was a globe which was 60 feet high and stood in Leicester Square, 1853-61. A prolific publisher the elder Wyld is reputed to have died of overwork.

The Wylds later sold the works of many others. Maps from Smith’s New English Atlas (63) and copies of Cary’s Traveller’s Companion (92) are known with a label over the imprint Sold by J Wyld. Geographer to His Majesty (1832 edition). Lithograph copies of Wallis’s New British Atlas have been found with the imprint: London. Published by Jas Wyld Charing Cross East. It is believed that James Wyld the Younger planned a County Atlas in 1842 but the venture never succeeded - loose maps with Wyld’s imprint are possibly from this atlas. Wyld also reprinted Baker’s reduction of Donn (see above) - which he must have obtained when he took over Faden’s business.

The author has two further maps distributed by the Wyld company: one of John Cooke´s maps showing a larger area of Plymouth Sound was sold in a slipcase with a James Wyld label circa 1830 (see Cooke 31); and an early version of George Philip´s large county map of Devonshire was sold as a folding map in covers circa 1870 (see Philip 141.5).

Size 1188 x 915 mm. Scale (10 = 126 mm) Miles.

MAP OF THE COUNTY OF DEVON, Drawn from the Topographical Survey taken by Order of the HONOURABLE BOARD OF ORDNANCE, under the Direction of Lt. Colonel W. Mudge Roy:Art:F.R.S. and with Permission Reduced from the large Map in eight Sheets by a Scale of One Inch to Two Statute Miles. London. Published by W. Faden, Geographer to His Majesty, and to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. Charing Cross, January 1^st 1816. Inset map of Lundy (122 x 91 mm) (Aa). Inset map of the ENVIRONS of PLYMOUTH (Ee).