Kemlyn Bay, & Harbour by William Morris. MAP 2098
It is very easy to think that we know all about past mapmakers and their work and that there is nothing new to say, but a recent discovery has shown me that this is not the case.
While relocating our collection of flat charts I came across a number of items by William Morris, son of Lewis Morris of Anglesey; so far, so what, you might think and, initially, so did I. The charts of Welsh harbours by Lewis and William Morris are well known and can be seen on the Library’s Digital Mirror. However, as I looked at one set of these charts I noticed something odd, there were subtle differences between this set and the published edition of 1800.
Earlier incorrect version
The plates are clearly the same ones as were used for the 1800 edition. The charts are an incomplete set only covering as far as Aberdovey. As I looked more closely I noticed that each plate showed minor changes compared to the published version. One example is the chart for Camlyn Bay rendered in this version as Kemlyn Bay, which can be seen in the picture on the right. You can compare this with the equivalent plate from the 1800 edition here
Another example is the Treath Coch plate. The two close-ups below show that the placename Porth Llongdy has been transcribed incorrectly as Porth Ugondy on the copy in this set (on the left). The fact that the published edition (on the right) has been corrected, suggests that the set I had found was an earlier version.
Corrected version published in 1800
The major problem with dating these maps is that they have all been cropped to the neatlines thus losing the imprint. However, as with all good detective stories someone had left me a clue to follow. The charts had been placed in a brown paper wrapper which listed the charts, but also had another tantalising piece of information. It bore the date ’1793?’ and a note referring to another chart, that for Barmouth, appearing in a Book of Views, part of the Library’s Picture Collection.
In part two (published on July 28th), I will go on to reveal what I discovered, how I used this information to date the maps and what this may mean for the story of the Morris’s charts of Welsh Harbours.
Huw Thomas