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. BL,
[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. BL, DevA, Exm, KB, [NDL].
NOTES:
