-
36. Cooke´s Third Breakwater plans
36.1. Title: Two plans of the breakwater. The upper plan: COOKE’S PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. The lower plan: TRANSVERSE Section of the BREAKWATER.
 Date: 1843.
Size: (255 x 300 mm.)
Imprint(s): Engraved & Published by John Cooke June ( )th 1843, 82 Union Street, Stonehouse, Plymo.
Signature(s): Mr Cooke Engraver, 82, Union Street Stonehouse. with below Map & Chart Engraver and Geographer Extraordinary to / to (sic) His late Majesty William IVth – in his 80th year of age.
Location(s): Unknown but probably Devon Archives.[1]

Comments: This is the last of Cooke´s Breakwater plans. It has two scales: upper scale, the breakwater from above, is 100 + 1000 yards (172 mm); lower scale, a transverse section, is 100 + 100 feet (135 mm). The original imprint is difficult to read as there is elaborate scrollwork around it. The plan clearly shows the lighthouse and there is only a small section (coloured blue) still now in progress. This was probably sold as a loose sheet sold separately.
Plan is coloured and there is a key:

The Space tinted RED is Finished with Masonry
Do.             Do.   BLUE is to be  …         Do.
Do.             Do.   GREEN is Finished with Rubble

The complete list of tonnages (below right) gives amounts for the years 1830, 1833 and 1842.
The plan includes pricing:
This Breakwater Plan Price Sixpence. Wholesale (4s 6d?) P Doz.
The Correct Plan of the Railway from Exeter to Plymouth &c will shortly be Publd.
Agents for the Sale, Faning & Weymouth, George Street Pymouth.

Cooke´s Plymouth Breakwater
Stonehouse. John Cooke. 1845.


36.2 Date: 1847.
Size: 255 x 300 mm.
Imprint(s): Published by JOHN BENNETT, 3 Ebrington Place, Plymo. & 53 Paternoster Row, London. 1847. The imprint is under the complete plan and there is a printer’s signature (below the section): Printed by C Baggs. A further signature: Wm Stuart superintendent is added below this in manuscript style.
Signature(s): as above
Location(s): KB. 

Comments: The only known copy has been tipped in to a work on Cornwall, but was almost certainly sold as a folding plan.
This later edition has a price of One Shilling written on the plan. This has a yellow label affixed to the back of the plan giving General particulars of the Breakwater (length, average width etc.). Cooke had died in 1845 and this later edition was amended probably by J Bartlett of 3, Old-Town-Street, Plymouth who not only advertises some of his wares (foreign shells, china, Chinese and other curiosities) but also offers a model of the breakwater at a scale of one inch to 100 yards which includes the lighthouse – finished and lit up on the 1st May, 1844.
The complete list of tonnages now gives amounts for the years 1830, 1833, 1842, 1846 and 1847. 
Plan is uncoloured except for small section (blue) as unfinished but key reads:
The Space tinted RED is Finished with Masonry
Do.             Do.   BLUE is to be  …         Do.
The complete list of tonnages (below right) gives amounts for the years 1830, 1833 and 1842.
The plan includes pricing, but agents reference deleted:
This Breakwater Plan Price One Shilling.
The Correct Plan of the Railway from Exeter to Plymouth &c is Published (this line being completed in May 1848).

This plan has a yellow label affixed to the back of the plan giving General Particulars of the Breakwater (length, average width etc.). As Cooke had died in 1845 so the later edition was amended: this example was sold by J Bartlett of 3, Old-Town-Street, Plymouth and advertises some of his wares (foreign shells, china, Chinese and other curiosities) but also offers a model of the breakwater at a scale of one inch to 100 yards and including the lighthouse – finished and lit up on the 1st May, 1844. 

Cooke´s Plymouth Breakwater
Plymouth and London. John Bennett. 1847.
 



[1] A colour copy of this first state is used on two internet sites with no source quoted. It is believed to be at the Devon Archives in Exeter. See, for example, Submerged, blog of the late Peter Mitchell and Plymouth Youth Sailing website where they have many details on the Plymouth Breakwater Project.


Links to sections of I - London

 John Cooke (1765-1791)

John Cooke of Hendon and Mill Hill (1792-1796)

John Cooke of Howland Street (1799-1805)

The Ladies Circular Atlas and “Mr Barrow”

The Rev. Thomas Smith & The Universal Atlas 

John Cooke and the Admiralty (1802-1805)

Between the Admiralty and Plymouth (1805-1812)

Synopsis of Geography

Links to section II - Plymouth. 

Stonehouse (1813-1845) 

Napoleon and Cooke´s first Plymouth engravings 

The Copper-Plate Engraving, and Printing Office (1815-21)

John Cooke of Union Street, Stonehouse (1823-1845)

Summary

Return to Introduction

Link to IV: Short List of John Cooke's works.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
  John Cooke                  Engraver and Publisher: 1765 - 1845                         JOHN COOKE – of London and Plymouth THIRD EDITION Newly Revised 2024  INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION to The Third Edition 2024   I am an avid collector of Devon guidebooks and soon became aware that a certain John Cooke had either engraved, or engraved and published, plans of the Plymouth area or of its breakwater which expanded in to an article about Plymouth Breakwater. [1] Over the years I managed to acquire a number of maps and plans depicting this monumental enterprise and Cooke´s name appeared several times. The name John Cooke is certainly not rare. However, there appeared to be two or even three engravers of that name around this time, with two operating from London, the other from Stonehouse, Plymouth, not counting the other Cookes active in the book and printing trades at the turn of the nineteenth century. According to Tooley´s Dictionary of Mapmakers (the most reliable source at that time
Read more
-
Image
  London Confusion Towards the end of the 18 th century and the dawn of the 19 th there were literally thousands engaged in the printing and allied trades in London. Many printers were also publishers, many engravers worked for multiple employers and the book printing, binding and retail trades were rapidly expanding. The area between Holborn in the north and the Strand in the south was littered with businesses engaged in publishing in one form or another. It is not surprising then that many people shared the same family name, but the number of Cookes, and specifically J Cook(e) made it difficult to identify a single person. The BBTI [1] has almost 65 entries for Cook or Cooke, with 9 entries for J (or I) Cook/e in London and one each in Plymouth and Exeter for this period. These included printers, booksellers, publishers, compositors, bookbinders, engraver/etcher, even paper-hanger and rag merchant. Ian Maxted [2] , well-known and respected for his work on the printing trades in bo
Read more
-
Image
  John Cooke of Union Street, Stonehouse (1823-1845)   When, in 1823, another plan of the breakwater was published ( 30 ), Cookes Plymouth Breakwater with the transverse section of the completed section , Cooke´s address is 48 Union Street for the first time. There is no mention of the Copper-Plate Engraving and Printing Office or of Mrs Nile.     Fig. 35. Print of the Royal Hotel and Plymouth Theatre.   Apart from his maps and charts, not many other engraved works by Cooke have been discovered. Besides the dedication and the heraldic arms for Gilbert already mentioned, Somers Cocks [1] lists a J Cooke for only two topographical prints; the first is of the Royal Hotel and Plymouth Theatre designed by John Foulston and completed 1818 (80 x 310 mm). This was published and sold separately, has Cooke´s address as 48 Union Street (Mrs Nile’s address) and is tentatively dated to 1820 ( Fig. 35 ), although according to a newspaper advertisement John Whitten took over management of
Read more