John Cary - Thomas Doidge 

The company of Thomas Doidge was listed in a trade directory of 1879 as proprietors of a photographic studio, fancy goods dealers, booksellers, binders, stationers, &c at Union Street, Plymouth. One or two photographs survive and one has an advert on the reverse announcing that oil or watercolour copis of the portrait can be had at life size.[1]  

                                                       

 Little of Doidge’s output is held at the major libraries  One map of Devon is known by Doidge and Co. Apart from this map, the BL only has a copy of A Ramble around Mount Edgcumbe written by W H K Wright published by the company. 

Doidge's Western Counties Annual ‑ A miscellany of useful, instructive, entertaining local and general information ‑ was issued annually from c. 1877 at which time they were operating from premises at 169‑170 Union St. This was produced in two editions with a special printing for the Army and Navy edition which included county historical information in the calendar section. The annuals were packed with stories and contained an almanack for each month. Doidge advertised himself as Great Book and Stationery Mart and also as a Discount Bookseller. In 1892 Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. became the London agents. Photos were added in 1893 and by 1894 Doidge was claiming sales of 15000 copies. The printers at the end of the century were the Plymouth printers of Hoyten and Cole. A map was included with the annual in 1899 ‑ Midland Railway Map of Great Britain.   

An illustration of the Doidge premises was used in an advertisement in 1891 and it is a very impressive establishment. At this time they were offering the largest stock of books in the west. They also offered a large scale map of Plymouth and District with 2 mile circles and this is almost certainly the map described below. It was not cheap: folded to fit the pocket and mounted on linen it cost half a crown.      

                                   

Advert for Doidge´s Toy Warehouse placed in Eyre´s Picturesque Devon and Cornwall 1891. Illustration courtesy of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.  

Cary Improved Map 5 (Doidge) 

Size: 598 x 742 mm.      Scale (10 = 128 mm). 

DOIDGE'S NEW LARGE SCALE CYCLING AND TOURING ROAD MAP OF PLYMOUTH AND DISTRICT. Imprint: DOIDGE & Co. 169 & 170 UNION STREET, PLYMOUTH (BeOS). There is an inset map: KEY MAP TO THE ROADS OF THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND. The map is provided with circles radiating out from the centre of Plymouth (see also Swiss, but not identical). Note (CeOS) reads: The Circles Denote Two Mile Distances. The map shows the area from St Austell to Teignmouth and north as far as Stratton and Bradford by Black Torrington. Railways are shown to Holsworthy, opened in 1879, but not the line to Kingsbridge which opened in 1893 nor the extension to Bude (1898 but planned earlier). 

1. 1890            Doidge's New Large Scale Cycling and Touring Road Map of Plymouth and District. Plymouth. Doidge & Co. (1890).    Tooley DE27 BL[2], E. 

 

For Cary´s county maps refer to The Printed Maps of Devon entries 51, 54, 55, 69, 71, 73 and 92. Click reference number to open directly.

For Cary´s New Map of England and Wales so-called "square atlas" - click here.

For Cary´s Improved Map of England and Wales as issued by Cary and others - click here.

For the section of Improved Map of England and Wales as issued by John Heydon - click here.

For the section of Improved Map of England and Wales as issued by A H Swiss - click here.

For the section of Improved Map of England and Wales as issued by Arthur Westley - click here.

For the 2 sections of Improved Map of England and Wales as used by Beatrix Cresswell - click here.

For the section of Cary´s Reduced Ordnance Map of England and Wales as issued by G F Cruchley to show Dartmoor Maneouvres - click here.

To return / access the Catalogue of Maps in this work - click here

[1] See for example: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~victorianphotographs/pixs/doidjb. The illustration of the advertisement is from the reverse of a photograph of two children.

[2] BL maps 1.a.17. Illustration courtesy of the British Library (from a composite photocopy). All rights reserved.

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