I. London
Except for the published works
which have been discovered, not much is known about John Cooke´s life. We do
know that John Cooke was the son of Ann and John Cooke of Fetter Lane, a
shagreen-case-maker[i]. He
was baptised 1st August 1765 at St Andrew in Holborn, London, three
years before a brother, Stephen William, who also became engraver. He was
apprenticed to the bookbinder Mary Cooke, also of Fetter Lane on 7th
September 1779 at the age of fourteen (normal practice in those days). However,
he was turned over to William Wells, an engraver, of Fleet Street on 6th
November 1787 “and to John Russell, by whom he was freed the same day” which
points to some kind of special arrangement. Russell himself was a well-known
engraver and it may be that his influence led Cooke in that direction. Between
1787 and 1812 John Cooke worked as an engraver from a number of different
London addresses. Considering that he had a number of apprentices himself during
this period, including his brother Stephen (1787, at Tooks Court, Cursitor
Street), his output of signed work seems to have been fairly limited.
We know that Cooke worked for a variety of publishers including D Steel, Bowyer, Boydell, W Walker, Hills and Mawman and also the very successful and well-respected William Faden; but he also found time to publish some of his own work and produced an atlas and a guide to drawing maps. Cooke must have moved in late 1789 or early 1790 to a new address - Clare Court, Drury Lane - as this is the address given on his earliest known work. The first recorded work signed by Cooke is a set of charts of Ireland, A New Mercator´s Chart of the Coast of Ireland, published in London with dates from January 1790 and executed for D Steel for whom he also later produced a set of engraved plates for The Elements And Practice Of Rigging And Seamanship. This manual, published by D Steel in 1796, has three plates depicting knots signed by J Cooke sct Mill Hill, Middx.[ii]
In 1792, shortly after moving to Mill Hill, Cooke produced a map of the road from London to Mill Hill and Barnet. This map has a slightly strange appearance as it follows the road something like a strip map, which taking a slight dog leg to the right, means that the map area is a rectangle “broken” just over half-way up and bent at some 45°. The bare area between the map and the border is taken up with an attractive compass which is dated 1792, (to the left, see illustration) and a dedication (right). This dedication is on the one hand a gesture of his sincere thanks to his friends and the public for their favours, but is also a method to let them know he has removed from London to Mill Hill and gives the coach times for potential customers. Cooke lived for three years at Mill Hill before moving to Hendon 1795-96.
In the same year
as the above map was produced there were considerable disorders in Toulon and
the French royalists took control of the port and opened it to the British
fleet, by whom it was occupied until 1793 when Napoleon, as an artillery
colonel, made it untenable by capturing the forts which dominated the harbour.
The Chart
of the roads and harbours of Toulon with their environs was published April 12th 1795 in London
by William Faden, then Geographer to His Majesty and to His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales with the signature of J. Cooke now living in Hendon, Middlesex.
The map shows soundings, drying and submerged banks, anchorages,
transits and coastal relief, vegetation, settlements etc. for about 1 mile
inland and text panels relate to shipping in the harbours of Toulon
(identifying old, repairable and serviceable vessels and ships burned on 18
December 1793) and buildings in the arsenal of Toulon.[iii]
Over the period
1790-1800 he worked on a number of quite impressive projects completing two
maps of the River Thames; one for Boydell´s
Rivers (on two sheets) which was a copiously illustrated work; and another
for Colquhoun´s work on the commerce and police of that river. He completed two
maps of Egypt for Home´s Select Views in
Mysore as well as a plan of St Petersburg for a popular guide to the city
by the German, Heinrich Storch, translated into English as the Picture of St Petersburg. During his
time in Hendon he also completed a map of the area for William Faden.
Fig. 1. Excerpt from London
Gazette of August 1797
While living in
Mill Hill Cooke may have overstretched his resources. So far we have seen the
typical work of a journey-man engraver working for others and no great personal
projects. We know that he would produce an atlas (1802, see below) and a work
on geography (his Synopsis, 1812) but
that would be in the next few years. Perhaps he was already preparing plates
for the atlas, be that as it may, but we learn from the London Gazette of August 8th 1797 that John Cooke, late of Mill-hill and Hendon,
Engraver is in Feet Prison for bankruptcy and serving the Third Notice of
debt.[1]
Fig.2. Universal Atlas – Dedication
Non-map material by Cooke is scarce, but the British Museum has a view of St Saviour's Church in Southwark. The illustration of the church itself is signed J Morton del. / W Hawkins Sc. However, under the picture is a ground plan of the church and this is signed J Cooke Sc. Mill Hill. The two drawings were executed after St Saviour's had undergone refurbishment: after being repaired and beautified and the opening is dated 11th day of May, 1800 (https://www.britishmuseum.org see /collection/object/P_1880-1113-5273).
Although he seems to have worked mainly for others (see list appended) he was obviously more than a jobbing-engraver. The Universal Atlas was published in 1802 and has nearly 30 attractive, circular maps, all executed by John Cooke (half are signed by him with his address now at 50, Howland Street), and with imprints dated from August 1800 to January 1802 and a title page dated April that year. The imprints strongly suggest that Cooke was a co-publisher together with others. The earliest dated sheets have the name of V Goddard; the imprint seems to have been replaced, suggesting revisions before the atlas publication or, more likely, imprints were changed for a second issue with original title page.
The other imprints on the maps are usually Published by John Harris and John Cooke; or Published for John Cooke by T Boone. Presumably Goddard was an early partner who left and Harris, Boone and Cooke were the main shareholders in the work. The atlas has a dedication to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York, Princess Royal of Prussia signed Faithful humble servant, John Cooke.
About this time we find two
maps which deserve more attention. A plan Improvements proposed by the Hon. Corporation
of
John Cooke did indeed work as
a plan engraver for the Admiralty[iv].
Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808) was appointed as the first Hydrographer to the
Admiralty in 1795 and the first admiralty charts appeared in 1800 after a
rolling press was purchased. John Cooke and Isaac Palmer were both engaged as
(part-time) plan engravers. Apparently there was some sort of dispute and Cooke
was sacked in 1804 but he petitioned the Admiralty about “unfair dismissal”
with the matter dragging on until 1807 or 1808. Dalrymple died in 1808 and was
replaced by Captain Thomas Hurd. Given Cooke´s publication of both an atlas and
of a guide to producing maps (his Synopsis)
he may have been disgruntled that he did not receive better recognition.
One of the leading figures at
the Admiralty at this time was the future king: William IV was christened
William Henry (born 21 August 1765) and became King of the United Kingdom and
of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death on 20 June 1837. He had two elder brothers and was not expected to
inherit the Crown. For this reason he was able, at the age of thirteen, to join the Royal
Navy as a midshipman and at age 15 was present at the Battle of Cape St.
Vincent and landed in Plymouth in 1780, with his elder brother Prince George,
The Prince of Wales, with the news of Rodney's victory, and the relief of
Gibraltar. He even served in New York during the American War of Independence.[v]
William became a Lieutenant in
1785, was in Plymouth[vi] in 1786, when he
was appointed Captain of the Frigate, Pegasus, just before his 21st birthday, and
in the same year he was stationed in the West Indies as Captain and came to the
attention of Horatio Nelson, who had a high regard for his naval talents. Having
earned the disfavour of his father, he was compelled to spend another period in
Plymouth and the story has it that during this time William threatened to run
for the House of Commons as MP for Totnes, Devon, before George III created him
Duke of Clarence in 1789. The newly
created Duke then ceased his active service in the Royal Navy and was promoted
to Rear-Admiral. In 1811 he was appointed Admiral of the Fleet. William was
succeeded by his niece, Queen Victoria. Although there is no evidence they met,
and no reason why they should, the fact that the Duke of Clarence was at the admiralty
and visited Plymouth is interesting.
Sometime
after his admiralty work Cooke provided three maps for Abraham Rees´ Cyclopedia, or Universal Dictionary
published by Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme. The map-making was supervised by
Aaron Arrowsmith, a leading London map publisher but the connection to Longman
would crop up again later. Cooke only produced three more maps before
disappearing, although he did publish a manual of geography.
Of
the 20 cartographic works[vii] identified as engraved by a John Cooke
of either London or with no address, all of these can be assigned to a period up
to 1812. These range from the set of 6 charts, Mercator´s Chart of the Coast of Ireland, to A General Synopsis Of Geography, With The Projection Of Maps And Charts
by John Cooke Late Geographer to the
Admiralty.
The Synopsis of Geography, published in 1812, was printed for James Cooke at his
Bloomsbury address. It is a complete manual and guide to the drawing of maps,
with historical introduction, illustrated with 20 copper plates most dated 1811
and signed by Cooke and which also contains a beautiful frontispiece of the
moon[viii] engraved by a Miss Mary Cooke from a
drawing made from actual observations ...under direction of William Kitchiner.
Imprints on all other engravings are Published by J Cooke or John Cooke; the
title page has Printed for James Cooke. James Cooke was apprenticed to William
Cooke, bookbinder, from 1745-1753; William´s business being carried on by his
widow, Mary, after his death in 1775. James´ or Miss Mary Cooke´s precise
relationship to John has not yet been established. However, given the fact that
John was initially apprenticed to William´s widow, the assumption is that they
were in fact related. Nevertheless, this manual of cartography again makes it
clear that John was more than just a jobbing engraver.
Besides the Synopsis set of maps, only six more maps
signed by Cooke have been found which were produced after his dismissal from
the admiralty in 1805 but before 1817. These include the four maps for the Cyclopedia written and produced by
Abraham Rees, a map of the British Empire in the East and a map of Stoke
Damerell.
The
first map to link John Cooke with Devon, and more especially Plymouth was A
Plan of the Town of Plymouth Dock. This map was Surveyed,
Drawn, and Published by T. RICHARDS, Totnes, Devon and published
on October 25th 1810, and was clearly Engraved
by John Cooke, London, late Engr. to the Admiralty. This very detailed map
had belonged among the St Aubyn family papers: a family associated with Devon
and Cornwall and who still lease parts of St Michael’s Mount, previously part
of their property from 1660. The imprint and signature clearly indicate that
John Cooke had previously done work for the Admiralty. The John Cooke referred
to here was certainly not local, he might not have visited Plymouth, but he
executed the plan on behalf of an influential Cornish client with land in Devon
and seems to have come into contact with a local publisher, not well-known for
cartographical output.
Link to IV: Short List of John Cooke's works.
[i] I am indebted to Laurence Worms who provided
the details here about John Cooke´s birth and apprenticeship and for providing
me with a list of Cooke maps he had compiled: these included new items 4a/4b, 9
and 23 in the appended list of maps; and for drawing Steel´s volume on Seamanship to my notice. John Cooke is
entry 2001 in D F McKenzie, Stationers´
Company Apprentices: 1701-1800, Oxford Bibliographical Society, 1978.
Cooke´s apprentices are listed under 1994-2000, his brother Stephen being entry
1995 (see also page 23).
[ii] British Library 1609/4613 and 1651/802. There was a
second edition in 1806 published by P Mason of London (British Library
8805.ee.28.).
[iii] This map actually became an Admiralty map post-1823
after the Admiralty bought up plates from Faden.
[iv] I am indebted to Dr Andrew Cook for providing
information about Cooke´s time at the Admiralty.
[v] While there the Americans planned to kidnap the Prince, a plan George Washington personally approved.
[vi] The
[vii] Not including multiple maps in one work.
[viii] This engraving won Miss Cooke the Silver Pallet from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Sciences on 30th May 1809 when she was just 17. It was Drawn by John Cooke and published by him on September 1st, 1808.
[1] I am grateful to Dr Shirley Atkinson who brought this to my attention and provided the edition of the London Gazette.
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