T  & A  Mortimore / Mortimer Bros. 

T & A Mortimer were proprietors of the Totnes Times and authors of books of local interest: Edward Montague´s The Castle of Berry-Pomeroy, A Novel was published by the Mortimers in 1892[1]. Additionally, they produced guides to the River Dart, Berry Pomeroy and the official guide to Totnes. The map below has first been seen in the The Totnes Times & Dartmouth Gazette Railway and River Dart Guide (1874) and soon after in the Seventh Season edition of the Guide to the River Dart (1875 or76) and in a guide to Berry-Pomeroy Castle published at almost the same time. The Dart guides and the map were still being used in 1902: The author has two copies of Guide to the River Dart, c.1902 (two mentions in text) with this map, one lacking Mortimer Bros. in the imprint.

The short text of the River Dart guide was probably written c. 1869 (Seventh Season in 1875/76)[1]. The text of the 1876 river edition (xvi pages) is identical to the 1874 railway edition but the latter has a different pagination (9-24) and last two pages (and the advert selection) are new. The indication is that the river guide is simply a reprint but the railway guide a newly designed page. The text was expanded in the 1880s to xxiv pages.



 The text (xlviii pages) of Berry-Pomeroy Castle: An Historical and Descriptive Sketch was written circa 1876[2], but the text was revised in the 1880s, and the population figures in the later edition listed below are those of the 1881 census; Berry-Pomeroy  was revised again in the late 1890s (the last date in the text is 1896), and the population figures are now of the 1901 census.

Both guides were written by T and A Mortimore according to the covers and/or the title pages, proprietors of the Totnes Times. However, the imprint on the map found in the later edition of the Berry Pomeroy guide is either T & A Mortimer or T C & A E Mortimer FJI, and the work was later printed at the Times and Western Guardian office. An advert inside the back cover of Guide to the River Dart has Mortimer Bros, Publishers, Totnes, as sellers of both these guides and a guide to Totnes (c.1910). They seem to have used the names Mortimore and Mortimer simultaneously.

The Totnes Times was founded in 1860 with the first edition of the Western Guardian dating to June 1882. A large number of editions were produced for local towns from c.1902, e.g. editions of the Western Guardian for Ashburton, Dartmouth, Newton Abbot and Paignton. From 1903 there was a Brixham issue and from 1904 one for Teignmouth. All of these ceased in April 1968. The two newspapers merged in 1967 to form the Totnes Times Guardian but the name Guardian was dropped in May 1970. The company is still in business today.
A second map can be found in the advertisement section of the earliest Berry-Pomeroy edition. This was for Farley’s Hotel (see Anon- Farley). 


Size 215 x 155 mm.  THE SQUARES ARE ONE MILE EACH. 

RIVER DART. in title lozenge (Ae) just above key and the scale information.  North point showing True North (Ce).

Description.  The area covered is from Torquay Station (EaOS) south as far as Compass Cove (EeOS). Only the western coast of Tor Bay is shown, and this is in the margin, ie outside the right border. Westwards the map stretches as far as Totnes (Ab). Berry Pomeroy is prominent. River Dart is shown clearly. Paignton spelt incorrectly.  

1. 1874   The Totnes Times & Dartmouth Gazette Railway and River Dart Guide 

               Totnes. T & A Mortimore. (1874). Bod.

 

2. 1876    Imprint added: Printed and Published by T. and A. MORTIMORE, Proprietors of the Totnes Times. (CeOS). Illustrated above.

 

Guide to the River Dart:A Descriptive Sketch – Seventh Season
Totnes. T & A Mortimore. (1875-76). [Bod, CUL, NLS,] KB.

 

                 Berry-Pomeroy Castle:An Historical and Descriptive Sketch
Totnes. T & A Mortimore. (1876).   BL, [CUL, TCD, Bod], TQ, KB.

 

                 Guide to the River Dart:A Descriptive Sketch
Totnes. T & A Mortimore. (1880), (1885).      [DevA].

 

3. 1892     Imprint: Mortimer Bros., "Times" and "Western Guardian" Steam Printing Works, Totnes. (CeOS).  

 

                 Berry-Pomeroy Castle:An Historical and Descriptive Sketch
Totnes. T & A Mortimer. (1892[2]).                        KB.

 

                Berry-Pomeroy Castle:An Historical and Descriptive Sketch
Totnes. T & A Mortimer. (1901).                           TQ.


 


NOTES:
[1] Maxted (Exeter Working Papers, 2015) has six further titles published by the firm between 1876 and 1888 including Edward Windeatt´s historical and descriptive account of St Mary´s Church in Totnes (1876) and James Wilson´s Ashburton: A Poem (1880). Locations of items in [brackets] taken from Maxted. Railway Guide is online at Bodleian Library.
[2]  Population of the parish 1,004 according to 1881 census, the last date in the text is 28th November 1885 (p. 27). However, an advert for Symonds´ Champagne Cyder pasted in at back has a date of October 20th 1892. 

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