Barmouth Bay by William Morris, 1793.
In part one of this blog (19th July) I told how I had found a set of William Morris charts of Welsh Harbours which appeared to predate the published edition of 1800.
I mentioned some of the differences between these examples and the published charts and also the reference I found to the date 1793 and this is where I will pick up my story again.
The note giving the date 1793 also referred to a Book of Views, so with a bit of help from a colleague I tracked down the Book of Views in question and discovered that it contained a chart by William Morris, again it differed from the published chart, but, unlike the cropped set I had found, this example was uncropped and included an imprint. The date of the imprint was 1793, as can be seen in the image below.
So here was a definite example of a chart by William Morris which dates to earlier than 1800, but how could I be sure that the cropped charts I had also dated to 1793?
Detail from chart of Bardsey Sound by William Morris, 1793.
It seemed to be impossible to prove at first glance, then when comparing the differences between the different charts and their 1800 counterparts I came across a note on the Bardsey Sound chart. The note, shown below, talks of a poet 343 years ago. Looking at the version from 1800 this has been amended to 350 years ago, which suggests that the 1800 version is seven years later than the earlier one, which would give a date of 1793, exactly what I was looking for.
Of course this is not the end of the mystery. Checking reference works and other library catalogues I have been unable to come across any reference to an edition published in 1793.
So were these plates simply an early proof state? This is suggested by the changes and corrections between the 1793 and 1800 versions of the plates. Where they printed as individual sheets or put together as a volume? It is not possible to answer this question with the information to hand, clearly though we have examples from two different sources, which suggests that more than one copy of the plates was printed.
Interestingly, as I was doing some sorting out in the Map Store the other day I came across a small photographic copy of a section of the William Morris chart of Swansea, Neath, Aberafon and the Mumble Flats. A handwritten label attached to the image gives a date of 1793. Unfortunately there is no information as to whereabouts of the original chart. This would appear to be a third source for a 1793 version of a William Morris chart, though without the original it is difficult to be sure.
In her work “Marine Plans and Charts of Wales” (Map Collector’s Circle No. 54, 1969) Olwen Caradoc Evans mentions a delay in publication due to the threat of French invasion, but this would appear to refer to a delay after 1800 rather than one between 1793 and 1800.
It remains a mystery as to the exact nature of these charts, an early proof state seems to be the most likely answer, but without further work it is difficult to say for sure. Given the fact that such examples are easily mis-identifiable as the 1800 versions, it is possible that other examples are held elsewhere. Perhaps someone will take a closer look at other copies of the William Morris charts to see if they can shed further light on this mystery.
Huw Thomas