Brendon & Son 2

Brendon & Son, while being well-known for their publishing of the Plymouth Transactions (given the relationship with the President) also published two maps which appeared in  Eyre Brothers’ Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory. Their first map was originally published c. 1876 and then updated when it appeared in the Third Edition of the directory. The directory changed hands frequently and included other maps. The work became Eyre´s Post Office Plymouth and Devnport District Directory in 1890 but in the  4^th edition of 1888 another Brendon map appeared. Other issues of the directory, which was published by Eyre Brothers themslves from 1880 to 1888 and by others until 1904, included either a map by Maddock, lithographed by John Smith or by Creber.

The map below is very much a sailor´s or mariner´s chart. The soundings throughout the harbour area are set out in a systematic matrix and there is a note concerning high and low water. In addition most of the urban area is only shown in block format and only the most important buildings shown. However, almost anything of a nautical nature is as highlighted, e.g. all bouys, timberyards, stores, shipwrights etc. It may be a coincidene but in May1887 Richard Nicholls Worth held a lecture at the Plymouth Institution on Tidal and General Notes on Cattewater.

The WDRO has an interesting booklet of rules for compositors and readers who were employed at the company dating from 1905. (Plymouth Local Studies Library reference P655). 

 

Size:  x ### mm.  Scale 12 Inches to 1 Statute Mile. 

PLAN OF CATTEWATER AND SUTTON HARBOURS Shewing the RAILWAY CONNECTIONS WITH THE G^T WESTERN AND SOUTH WESTERN SYSTEMS (Aa) with Copyright below. Imprint: W. BRENDON & SON, LITH, PLYMOUTH. (CeOS, under Great Western Docks). Note on tides and depths cover the whole of the harbour areas.

From the Market (Aa) and the Citadel to the River Plym to the east.

 

1. 1888   Eyre Brothers’ Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ...3^rd Edition

                London. Eyre Brothers. 1888-89.   DevA.

For a full description of George P Butcher and the identity of the Eyre Brothers go to my special article:

The Eyre Brothers

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 Theophilus Creber 

In 2016 the British Library held an exhibition “There will be fun” centred on the entertainment industry of the Victorian era. Laurence Worms in his blog The Bookhunter on Safari mentions Theophilus Creber in connection with a number of posters and a newspaer clöipping. The following is his portrayal of Creber in connection with the exhibits: This Sanger poster [illustrated below] is by the prosperous Theophilus Creber (1845-1902) of Plymouth, who described himself as a “show printer”. Brought up in Devonport Workhouse (not as an inmate, his father was the teacher), he was a man in love with his work to the extent that he took his own lease on the old Olympia Theatre in Plymouth and re-opened it in 1887 as a Theatre of Varieties, promising “first class entertainments … free from anything objectionable in the slightest degree”. By 1898 he had taken over the Theatre Royal at Eastbourne, spending a fortune on refurbishing it.[1]
He goes on to explain the contents of a newspaper clipping which was illustrated: An account in “The Era” describes the work carried out in elaborate detail. He also owned Fred Ginster’s Circus, which was put up for auction, lock, stock and barrel, later that year – possibly to pay for the refurbishment: “The Circus Plant is in First-rate Condition, and is now Travelling, and will be up to Day of Sale. It comprises the following :– 100 Horses and Ponies, Procession Carriages, Living Waggons, Luggage Waggons, Pony Traps, Splendid Sets of Red and Blue Leather Harness, Waggon Harness, &c.; very Large Two-Pole Tent, with Wallings and Seating Complete; Horse Tents, Dressing Tents, Property Tents, Procession Dresses, Shields, Banners, Flags, &c.; Twenty-five of the Best and Cleverest Horses in the Circus Business; Four Black Hungarian Horses, Performing Together, and to do Separate Trick and Menage Acts; Dignity and Impudence, the Big Horse and the Little Pony, which do Three Acts; Ten of the Best Ring Horses in the Business, go to every Act; the Smallest and Prettiest Ponies, Two White Sacred Mules, 17h. high, &c” (The Era, 17th September 1898). His business survived until 1932 when it merged with the Salisbury Press.
The Eyre brothers issued their Post Office Plymouth District Directory in 1881 but by 1900 it had already been through two different publishers before Theophilus Creber took it over in 1900. He managed to publish five ditioons before it was again taken over, this time by Swiss of Plymouth. The 13th edition has a map specially pareped by Creber.[2]

Size 493 x 691 mm.    SIX INCHES TO THE MILE (6 miles = ### mm). 

THEOPHILUS CREBER´S “COPYRIGHT” PLAN OF PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT, STONEHOUSE, AND NEIGHBOURHOOD UP-TO-DATE across the top of the map above the border in 3 lines. Signature: CREBER LITHO PLYMOUTH (Ee). There is note on boundaries to wards which are coloured red. Scale at bottom (Ce). There is a small compass point (Ae).

The map area extends only as far as the city limits from Hamoaze to The Laira. There are two insets top right of Saltash and St Budeaux.                 

1. 1901            Eyre´s Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory 13^th Edition.                        

Plymouth. T Creber. 1901.      Bod, PLY[3], DevA[4] (illustrated).

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NOTES:

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[1] See https://ashrarebooks.com/2016/10/20/there-will-be-fun/. The Sanger poster is illustrated but is also illustrated online at https://imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/48354. Courtesyof the British Library.

[2] For full details of the directory under Eyre´s name see  https://eyre-brothers-directories-guides.blogspot.com/.

[3] PLY has a copy of the directory with no map and WDRO a copy of this map stored at 2766. They probably belong together.

[4] DevA catalogue lists a copy of this map under PM B/PLY/1904/CRE. It has directories for 1900-1904, all by Creber, but none contains a map.

 John Smith

The Eyre Brothers were publishers with premises at 10, later 26 & 27, Paternoster Square, Paternoster Row, London. Their output seems to have been limited (only a handful of entries under COPAC) but they did produce some works relevant to Devon. The George Philips map of Devon (see B&B 149) was used in a number of works designed for both tourist and local resident published by Eyre Brothers of London: The Watering Places of the South of England (1877); Eyre’s Guide to the Seaside and Visiting Resorts of Devon & Cornwall (1878); and Eyre’s Hotels of the United Kingdom (1879, 1881). In 1880 they produced a directory for the Plymouth area and Eyre Brothers’ Post Office Plymouth District Directory, embracing Plymouth, Devonport, Stonehouse, and the District Five Miles Round (First Edition, 1880-81)[1] included the Philip map of the county.

The Post Office Directory was reissued at two year intervals (with slight change of name) by other publishers from 1890 until 1904 but appeared annually from 1895[2]. The Directory was taken over by A H Swiss from 1905. Only the first edition has a map of Devon, subsequent copies included a map of the Plymouth district. The area maps by Maddock and Brendon were used in 1882-83 and 1885-86 respectively, post-1890 directories used a map lithographed by John Smith of Plymouth with the Eyre imprint first appearing c. 1896.  

Size: 405 x 550 mm.  Scale 6 Inches to a Mile  (1 = 150 mm) mile. 

Title in panel (Ce):  Map of PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT, STONEHOUSE, AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. Signature: JOHN SMITH, LITHO. PLYMOUTH (EaOS). Scale bar (CeOS).

Area shown is between Hamoaze and Cattewater only, but north to include all of Compton Ward. Extends east only to Little Efford. 

1. 1890    Eyre’s Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ... Fifth Edition

                London. W H Hood. 1890-91.        NLS, DevA.

                               

                Eyre’s Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ... Sixth Edition

               London. J G Hammond & Co. 1893.          KB.

 

2. 1895    Size: 415 x 620 mm. 

             Eyre’s Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ...7^th Edition

             London. J G Hammond & Co. 1895.                 DevA.

 3. 1896   EYRE`S DIRECTORY MAP OF PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT, STONEHOUSE, AND NEIGHBOURHOOD added above the top border. Frame to title removed. Scale changed to upper case. Signature now bottom right (EeOS). Numerous new developments especially at Royal Naval barracks north of Keyham Lake, at Mannamead south of Hartley Reservoir and at Cattedown. Size: 410 x 552 mm. Illustrated.

                Eyre’s Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ...8^th Edition

                London. J G Hammond & Co. 1896.                 NLS.

 

4. 1897    Size: 370 x 556 mm. Map now shows both Little Efford and Efford Manor. New ward names, e.g. Compton, Frankfort and Mutley wards added (capital letters). Drake’s Island added below border. Smith signature deleted. Previous boundary lines deleted.

 

                Eyre’s Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ...9^th / 10^th / 11th Edition

                        London. J G Hammond & Co. 1897, 1898.         WDRO; NLS; BL.

For a complete overview of the Eye Brothers and the man behind the company - George P Butcher - go to my special web blog at:

The Eyre Brothers

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NOTES:

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[1] I would like to thank the staff, and especially Jenny Parkerson, at NLS for their assistance concerning these directories.

[2] West Devon Record Office have a complete set of copies from the 1^st  to 16^th editions. It was later taken over and renamed by Swiss & Co. Only the 4^th and 5^th editions have a map (4^th with plan of Cattewater and Sutton Harbour). Theophilus Creber of Plymouth issued the 12^th to 16^th editions and included a new map in some or all of these.

 Brendon & Son

Richard Nicholls Worth was a professional writer. He was born in 1837 at Devonport and except for a brief period in Newcastle (as editor of the Northern Daily Express) he spent all his years in or near Plymouth. As a young man he was apprenticed to R C Smith of the Devonport and Plymouth Telegraph and became chief reporter when that paper merged with the Western Morning News. After a year spent in the north he returned to the Western Morning News from 1867 to 1876.[1] During this period he researched his History of Devonport and his History of Plymouth which were published in 1870 and 1871 respectively. The timing of the second book was fortuitous as Llewellynn Jewitt (c.f.) also published a history of Plymouth a year later. Worth’s History contains four small maps but all are copies of earlier maps outside of the scope of this present work.[2]

Maybe it was the success of these books, and the latter in particular, but Worth resigned his post at the newspaper in 1876 and joined the local printing and publishing business of Brendon & Son. The map described below was included in his Guide to the Three Towns and Neighbourhood which was published soon after with a reprint a few years later with the map below. Besides updating and reissuing his History of Plymouth, Worth was a contributor to the Tourist’s Guide series published by Edward Stanford (see B&B154: South Devon and North Devon appeared circa 1878 and 1879) with information on other counties and areas beyond Devon (e.g. Wye, Kent and Surrey). He was a regular contributor to the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, and also became its President. He was also active in, and became President of, the Plymouth Institution. He died in July 1896 at Shaugh Prior.

In 1885 the same map was included in Eyre Brothers’ Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory. However, for the 4th edition published in 1888 the Brendons commissioned a new map showing Cattewater and Sutton Harbour.

Other issues of the directory, which was published by Eyre Brothers from 1880 to c. 1904,  included either a map by Maddock (see Maddock 3) or lithographed by John Smith (see Smith, J). 

 Size: 453 x 620 mm. No scale. 

MAP OF PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT AND STONEHOUSE, (De) with Copyright below (title begins left of a line through The Hoe and T of Devonport is alongside the pier on Mount Batten. Imprint: W. BRENDON & SON, LITH, PLYMOUTH. (CeOS, under Great Western Docks).

From Keyham Lake (Aa) to Mount Edgcumbe (Ae) and east to Compton (Ea) and Batten Bay (Ee).

 

1. 1876         Guide to the Three Towns and Neighbourhood by R N Worth

                     Plymouth. W Brendon & Son.(1876[3]).         DevA.

 

2. 1878          Map now 510 x 690 mm. Drake’s Island or St. Nicholas’ Island has been added and the title moved to accommodate it: title now is below The Hoe and the pier on Mount Batten deleted. Imprint is now below Firestone Bay. Rum Bay at Mount Batten now also included.

 

                      Guide to the Three Towns and Neighbourhood by R N Worth

                        Plymouth. W Brendon & Son.(1878[4]).       TQ.

 

3. 1885         Extended west (to include Torpoint): size 490 x 690 mm. As above but lacks the new developments in Sutton Ward. Illustrated by kind permission of NLS.

 

                       Eyre Brothers’ Post Office Plymouth and Devonport District Directory, ...3^rd Edition

                       London. Eyre Brothers. 1885-86.                   NLS.

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NOTES:

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[1] Summarised from Brian Moseley’s text at www.plymouthdata.info - an excellent site for Plymouth history generally.

[2] They were: a map of Plymouth Haven - a copy of Daniel Lysons’ own extract of a much larger manuscript map prepared for Henry VIII which had appeared in Magna Britannia (B&B 89); a copy of a manuscript map prepared for Queen Elizabeth I by Spry; the True Mapp was taken from a map executed by Wenceslas Hollar for inclusion in A True Narration of the most Observable Passages of 1644; and finally, The Plan of Plymouth was copied from the large inset map of Plymouth contained in Benjamin Donn’s 12 sheet map of Devon executed in 1765 (B&B 44). All four maps have been redrawn to a much reduced size of approx. 100 x 160 mm retaining most of the information but without the same detail.

[3] Last date in text.

[4] Volume has adverts for the Provident Life insurance which are dated 1878.