George Moss

 One of the most sought after guides to south Devon is George Phillip Rigney Pulman's The Book of the Axe. It was copiously illustrated with lithographs and a map. George Pulman (b. Axminster) ran the Pulman Weekly News (founded 1857) offices in Crewkerne and Axminster. He was a keen naturalist and writer and was the author of The Vade-Mecum of Fly-Fishing, Rustic Sketches and Local Nomenclature, among other works.

The map for this work was drawn by George Moss of Crewkerne and engraved by William Spreat of Park Place and 229 High Street, Exeter. Little is known about Moss but he did execute various tithe maps and estate plans in and around Crewkerne (1838-1851) and a plan of Crewkerne in 1853 in which he surveyed and drew the course of the common sewers.

William Spreat Senior was born in 1782 or 1783 and was assistant bookseller in 1815 before becoming a bookseller and stationer. He had various addresses in the High Street, Exeter from 1817 (264 and 263 from 1820-1843). Spreat had three children: Ann baptised in 1815, Mary Jane Warren (1819) and William junior. He advertised plans of Exeter turnpike roads for sale and was appointed librarian to the Devon and Exeter Horticultural Society. William senior died in 1847.

William Spreat Junior was born in 1816 and married in 1841. One of his earliest works was A New Guide to the City of Exeter, and Its Environs; with Descriptive Sketches of the Adjacent Watering Places printed in Exeter for in 1824. However, he is possibly more famous for his Picturesque Sketches of the Churches of Devon - Drawn From Nature on Stone published in 1842 and containing some 70 lithograph plates. Somers Cocks lists 20 single works from 1840 to 1854, but over 200 prints are known.

Spreat advertised in Billing’s Directory and Gazetteer of Devon, published 1857, as Artist and Lithographer at his West of England Lithographic Establishment at 229, High Street and 2, Gandy Street, addresses used from circa 1850 to 1862 and 1867. Among the items listed are Plans and Drawings of Estates for Sale, Railway Plans, Rent and Tithe Notices, Circulars etc. The announcement finishes with the note: Good Lithography is equal to Engraving and at much less Cost. Previous addresses were 1, Premier Place, Mount Radford and 5, Park Place, Longbrook Street. Although he was working from c. 1842 he doesn’t appear to have taken over his father’s business immediately, as this traded as Spreat and Wallis in 1843 and in 1847 Mrs Jane Spreat advertised that she was carrying on her late husband's business.

William Spreat Junior is known to have lithographed many Devon maps including two large estate maps of the parishes of Dalwood and Stockland. Most of his map work seems to have been carried out 1840-1860 so he may have produced the map for Rev. George Oliver’s Monasticon Diocesis Exoniensis although the signature was added later (c.f. B&B 129).

Size: 450 x 560 mm. SCALE OF STATUTE MILES (8 Furlongs + 5 = 150) MILES. 

MAP Showing the Rise and Course OF THE RIVER AXE, AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. (Ea) with printer’s signature below: W SPREAT, LITH, EXETER. Signature (AeOS): GEO MOSS CREWKERNE DEL.

Description: Shows the area from Beer Head to Beaminster and inland north as far as Staple Hill. The areas north and east of Chard are left undrawn, as are areas west and north of a line through Farway Hill and Little Down. Compass.

1. 1854            The Book Of The Axe

                        London. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. 1854[1].  BL[2], [DevA]. 

2. 1875    The L&SW Railway is shown with lines to Chard and Seaton. Illustrated.


  The Book Of The Axe Fourth Edition Rewritten and Greatly Enlarged  
  London. Longman, Green, Reader and Dyer. 1875.[3]   BL, DevA, Exm, KB, [NDL].



NOTES:

[1] Although Davidson lists editions for 1841, and 1844, Brockett does not include these editions, which could indicate that they were never issued and there are no editions in any of the main libraries in Devon. Nevertheless, parts of the Book of the Axe may well have been published in The Pulmans Weekly, and are possibly the mystery editions. These would then be the first and second editions with the 1854 being the third edition (see below). See Davidson; Bibliotheca Devoniensis, A Catalogue of the Printed Books Relating to the County of Devon; Exeter; William Roberts; 1852. See Brockett; The Devon Union List; Exeter; 1977.

[2] BL 10351.e.37: this is a set of monthly parts bound together with their original paper covers. Part I appeared in February 1853 with part XI in December of the same year. The final section, PART XII, is only dated 1854, so presumably appeared early in January or February, after which the parts could be bound into the complete volume. The parts clearly advertise that this is the “Third and Greatly Enlarged Edition”.

[3] Variously bound in either one (e.g. KB) or two volumes (e.g. BL). This edition was issued in facsimile in 1969.

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