Becker 2

Thomas Henry Cooper may well have been a local doctor. In the 1851 census there is a Thomas Henry Cooper listed at Croft House, Lynton. He was 37 at the time and a G.P. No wife is listed but two girls, Mary Ann (12) and Emma Lucy (11) together with a governess and two servants.

Cooper must have written the final pages of his A Short Historical Sketch of Lynton some time in 1850 and added the population figures of 1851 when they became available and completed the Preface about 1853 where he mentions the inclusion of a map. No copy of the guide has been seen without a map which  was engraved by F P Becker from the Ordnance Survey. The map is clearly dated 1853, and it is at least possible that the book’s publication was delayed a few months in anticipation of the map. 

Cooper was obviously slighted by a rival publisher’s guide book to the area as in the Preface he writes: ... and this small volume will prove how inadequate is the time allotted, for a tourist here, by a Guide Book published at Ilfracombe, when it says:- “the excursions about Lynton may be effected in one day,” tho’ with this rather important qualification, “if proper expedition can be used.”

The preface also notes that A good and correct Map of the district has long been wanting ... on the scale of an inch to the mile corrected to the present date. Cooper refers to the five illustrations included[1] and recommends visitors to procure the excellent Views of Devonshire by Henry Besley, of Exeter, if they wish to have more.

 


Size: 320 x 910 mm.                              Scale of Miles  (6 = 150 mm).

 

MAP OF NORTH DEVON, AND PART OF SOMERSETSHIRE, TO ACCOMPANY THE GUIDE-BOOK TO LYNTON &c. Drawn & Engraved from the Ordnance Survey. 1853. (Aa) with imprint:  Published by J Russell Smith, London, G J Jenvey, Barnstaple and W Richards, Lynton.(CeOS). Signature:  Engraved by F P Becker, London (Ae). There is a scale bar (Ea). Area shown is the area as far south as Barnstaple Bar, Barnstaple and east to Minehead and Dunster. 

1. 1853 A Guide Containing A Short Historical Sketch of Lynton And Places Adjacent in North Devon Including Ilfracombe by Thomas Henry Cooper

                London; J Russell. Barnstaple; G J Jenvey. Lynton; W Richards. 1853.[2]     KB, E, BL[3].



[1] These are listed by Somers Cocks under S.202.

[2] The copy held at Barnstaple was originally dated c.1851, but as the map is clearly dated 1853, the last date in text, the census figures for 1851 (e.g. p.20), was probably used for dating. Unfortunately the map is missing from their example.

[3] BL 10351.f.14.

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