John Cary (c. 1754 – 1835) was an
English cartographer.
Life
Cary served his apprenticeship as an engraver in London, before setting up his own business in the Strand in 1783. He soon gained a reputation for his maps and globes, his
atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets.
Atlases have traditio ...
, ''The New and Correct English Atlas'' published in 1787, becoming a standard reference work in England.
In 1794 Cary was commissioned by the
Postmaster General to survey England's roads. This resulted in ''Cary's New Itinerary'' (1798), a map of all the major roads in England and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. He also produced
Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
maps prior to 1805.
In his later life he collaborated on geological maps with the geologist
William Smith. His business was eventually taken over by G. F. Cruchley (1822–1880).
Works
Cary's major works include:
*''Actual Survey of the country fifteen miles around London'' (1786)
*''New and Correct English Atlas'' (1787)
*''Camden's Britannia'' (1789) - maps for 1789 and 1806 editions
*''Cary's Survey of the High Roads from London'' (1790)
*''Cary's Traveller's Companion'' (1790)
*''New Maps of England and Wales with part of Scotland'' (1794)
*''Inland Navigation; or Select Plans of the Several Navigable Canals throughout Britain'' (1795)
*''Cary's New Itinerary'' (1798)
*''A New Map of Scotland'' (1801)
*''New British Atlas'' (1805), with John Stockdale
*''A New map of chinese & independent Tartary'' (1806)
*''Cary's New Universal Atlas'' (1808)
*''Cary's English Atlas'' (1809)
*''New Elementary Atlas'' (1813)
*
Cary's New Itinerary' (1817)
Notes
References
*
*Allen, P. (1992). ''The Atlas of Atlases''. London: Ebury Press.
*Moreland, C. & Bannister, D. (1989) ''Antique Maps''. London: Phaidon Christies
*Tooley, R. V. (1987) ''Maps and Map-Makers''. London: Batsford
External links
Brief biography at Mostly Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cary, John
1750s births
1835 deaths
English cartographers
Place of birth missing
18th-century English people
19th-century English people