Davis (Richard) A New Map of the County of Oxford from an Actual Survey; on which are Delineated the Course of the Rivers and Roads, the Parks, Gentlemen's Seats, Heaths, Woods, Forests, Commons &c. &c., London: John Cary, 1797, key map of Oxfordshire with original hand colouring and inset b & w town plan of Oxford, seventeen map sheets (including title page) all with original hand colouring, each plate approximately 49cm x 67cm, rebound in a modern large folio (58cm x 41cm) in half calf with marbled boards and red morocco title label, new endpapers, pencil booksellers notation to front pastedown with pasted blind stamped bookplate and signature 'H. George Fordham, Odsey, 1918'

A private collection. Previously Sir Herbert George Fordham (1854–1929), a writer on cartography whose Carto-Bibliography method of cataloguing maps was widely adopted. He attended University College, London. He was the benefactor of the Fordham collection housed by the Royal Geographical Society. He received a knighthood in 1908 and from 1920 was Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. He donated rare maps and atlases to both the British Museum and to Cambridge University Library and he bequeathed 1300 volumes, including rare road books and itineraries, to the Royal Geographical Society. His house, 66 Odsey House, was built as a racing lodge close to Odsey racecourse by the Duke of Devonshire, and had been in the hands of the Fordham family since 1793

This detailed and accurate map of Oxfordshire with its fine town plan of Oxford is Davis’s only contribution to English cartography, although he was a prolific surveyor of estates in and around Oxfordshire. Surveyed on a scale of 2 inches to 1 mile this map is widely regarded as an important land mark in large scale cartography. Brian Kentish. Large Scale County maps of England and Wales 1705-1832, no.45