An exceptionally fine and handsome example of Gough's enlarged second edition, with maps engraved by John Cary.

Richard Gough (1735-1809) was "undoubtedly the leading antiquary of his day" (Sweet), with a singular interest in the antiquities of native Britain. He never travelled abroad. His revision of Camden's 'Britannia', was first published in 1789, having been in the works since 1773. Over the course of seven years, he translated Camden's text, and then took a further nine to publish the work. He visited every county himself, and tapped into a wide network of fellow antiquaries to gather new information, check proofs, etc. In 1806, it was reprinted in four volumes, as here, with corrections and additions. "A third edition was due to be published but was set back by the fire at Nichols's printing office in 1808, and Gough's health thereafter declined too rapidly to see the project through. The plates and the notes were left to the Bodleian Library along with Gough's other papers, and it was hoped that the delegates of Oxford University Press would oversee the publication of the revised edition, but the volumes with the notes and additions still remain in the Bodleian's manuscript collection, unpublished" (Sweet).

William Camden (1551-1623) began work on his 'Britannia' in 1577, after receiving a great deal of encouragement from many of the leading cartographers of the day, most notably Abraham Ortelius. The work would take him nine years, with the first edition appearing in 1586. The work, published originally in Latin, is a county-by-county description of the British Isles, detailing the countries landscape, geography, antiquarianism, and history. It was to prove hugely popular with six editions being published in the first twenty years alone. During his lifetime Camden continued to revise and expand the text with each new edition. He drew upon unpublished text by the likes of William Lambarde, and travelled extensively throughout Britain collecting first hand information, even taking the time to learn Welsh and Old English.