Friday, 16 February 2024

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

Cooke´s Synopsis represented a considerable amount of work and new evidence reveals that it was republished, not in its original form, but as a 2 or 3 Parts Issue. As early as January 1815, an advertisement was placed in the Royal Cornwall Gazette in which W Cock, of Penryn announces the forthcoming publication early in February next of A General Synopsis of Geography to be sold by subscription in 40 quarto numbers costing one shilling each (Fig. 31). W Cock will be printing and publishing the work; it will also be published by E Nile and Son and sold by S King of Dock and J Heard, Truro; other publishers will be based in London, S A Oddy of Ivy Lane and J and J Cundee of Paternoster Row, both connected to other geographical works. Already proof impressions of the Plates were available at 5s each.

Fig. 31. Advertisement in Royal Cornwall Gazette (January 1815).

Two booklets at Yale[1] have original text sheets, bound in what appears to be a Parts Issue. The first of these is titled An historical introduction to the sciences in general, particularly geometry, astronomy and geography, from the most remote and earliest period ... also, the discovery of the several planets, by Herschel, Piazza, Olbers, and Mr. Harding (Fig. 32).

This first of the two works (assuming the same sequence as the original) is By John Cooke, Engraver and Geographer and was Published by ####### / at the Copper-Plate Engraving and Printing Office, New Road, Stonehouse, / near Plymouth, / 1816. Part of the imprint of this volume (###) has had the publisher´s name crossed out by hand but it is still possible to discern the name of E Nile.

This volume, except for the new title page, is identical to the original Synopsis edition, the pagination runs from i to lvii and has four of the original engravings. Mary Cooke´s moon has the imprint seen in A General Synopsis; the larger Solar System has the High Street, Bloomsbury address seen in that work; however, the Seasons now has imprint Engraved, Published Jan 1 [space] by J Cooke, [space] Howland Street, Fitzroy Squ^e(Fig. 45c). Except for the use of an ampersand, the page of diagrams beginning with Refraction and Reflection also has this imprint. Howland Street was Cooke´s address circa 1799-1805 and the address Fitzroy Squ^eis only seen on Mrs Cooke´s trade card. This appears to be evidence of surplus stock from the earlier publication, the Circular Atlas of 1800-01.

Fig. 32. Title page to An historical introduction to the sciences (1816).

The second part is The geometrical, astronomical and geographical definitions ... with an explanation of the astronomical and geographical terms ... Tables of the constellations, climates ... also, the method of drawing, the different geometrical figures with ease and accuracy. The second part has a similar but not identical authorship and imprint on the title page: By John Cooke, Engraver and Geographer, Late Engraver to the Admiralty but this time the imprint reads London: / Printed for the Proprietor, E Nile, Bookseller, Union-Street, New-Road, Stonehouse, / near Plymouth; and sold by all other booksellers in the / United Kingdom, / 1816. This Part contains all plates appearing in the Synopsis, from page 1 to 29, with High Street, Bloomsbury imprints.

While the original covers of these works have been lost, a small paper label, possibly cut from one issue has been saved and pasted on to the new cover in which both are placed. This label bears the title An historical introduction to the sciences in general with Price Seven Shillings.

There is now no mention of E Nile and Son, or of S King, Dock, or the well-known London companies whose participation were advertised the previous year. Cooke would be associated with Mrs Nile throughout the period 1816-1820.

This is clearly leftover stock being reissued, but approximately one third of the earlier Synopsis is lacking; this would neatly form a third part, covering pages 30 to 53 and would constitute a manual for those endeavouring to learn the skills of a mapmaker. Given three more or less equal parts at seven shillings each, the final work would cost one guinea.

Very little work is known from the Copper Plate Engraving and Printing Office, but all of it is associated with Mrs E Nile and/or John Cooke – except one. The Chart of the Harbour of Plymouth / Taken 1817 covers all of the area which surrounds Plymouth Sound and Cawsand Bay (22).

On the right is a sketch (A) of a dry dock with its (planned?) dimensions. This is explained in the Reference (Ea) as a dry dock at Tanchapel (sic); this should be Turnchapel. John Parker, also known as the 1^st Earl of Morley, was the landowner at Turnchapel, and he improved the wharves there, an important site of repairs to His Majesty´s Navy, with a wet dock (c.1798) and a dry dock in 1804. In 1812 it saw the launch of the Clarence, a 74-gun ship-of-the-line.

Although not signed, this chart is believed to be the first by John Cooke executed in Plymouth. It was printed at the Copper Plate Engraving and Printing Office which would become linked with a number of Cooke´s maps and plans from 1820. The chart is very similar to another by Cooke (31) which also lacked a bottom border. The approach using Tor House is clearly explained: Tor-House and Black spot in a centre of a White Patch on the Garrison Wall is the leading Mark through Sedley´s Channel. This inclusion of Tor House is also seen in the later chart. Except for the imprint this looks like a chart prepared for a government report.

In Cooke´s plans of Plymouth Dock (19 and 20) he had omitted most coastal features, but in this chart, we have a suggestion of coastal shading. The mud flats to the west are clearly shown, not dissimilar to those of his Falmouth chart (23).

Cooke’s plan of Stoke Damerell and the plan of Plymouth Dock had concentrated on that small area. This chart now takes in the whole of the greater Plymouth waterway. The breakwater has its two end promontories both facing inwards: started in 1812 it was just starting to take shape. More of an enigma is that where Kerr Street was shown in the plan of 1810, we now have Windmill Hill.

If this chart is by John Cooke, and the date represents the year it was finished (as opposed to being copied at a later date) then it is his earliest plan to be produced in Devon. It also included the breakwater and was one of the earliest of all plans to show it. The Breakwater does appear to have fascinated John Cooke, or he saw a commercial opportunity. In the years he spent in Plymouth he would complete three different plans of the breakwater (entries 28, 30 and 36) and publish a small booklet (jointly with J Johns of Plymouth), reprinting much of John Rennie´s initial reports to the Admiralty. The small chart included in this latter work was Published for and sold by Mrs E Nile, probably from the Copper Plate Engraving and Printing Office (27).

Whereas there is a dearth of material by Cooke from 1812 to 1815 Cooke´s output seems to be slow and steady from about 1820 after initial contact with the Copper-Plate Engraving and Printing Office. A detailed map of the Borough of Plymouth was issued in that year (25). The engraver’s signature is clearly that of John Cooke and the imprint is: Pubd April 15. 1820. by Mrs E Nile, No. 48 Union St, Stonehouse. The imprint of Mrs Nile, however, continues … Engraving & Copper-Plate Printing Office. John Cooke and Mrs Nile have some sort of business arrangement.

There is a dedication on a tablet in a vignette to the Mayor, commonalty and inhabitants from John Cooke. If John Cooke was simply the engraver, this would be strange indeed. Whether John Cooke received permission to do this, or whether it was a means to attract official consent, is not known but this is not the only map to have, or to seek, public support.

These last two maps indicate that Cooke may have been active for Mrs Nile for up to three years. The Borough plan not only has the imprint: Engraving & Copper-Plate Printing Office but the premises are marked with an asterisk on Union Street (Fig. 33, the map has even been extended into the border to include it).

In the same year the first edition of Cooke´s Plan of the Towns and Harbour of Plymouth, Stonehouse, Dock also appeared (26). The Plan has a comprehensive key and the Copper Plate Print. Off. is shown as reference h, again in Union Street (but not in the imprint).

Fig. 33. Union Street / New Road. The Copper-Plate Engraving and Printing Office is shown by a star, just after the turnpike gate.

Shortly after, Cooke´s first plan of the Plymouth Breakwater appeared. This engineering project attracted a lot of attention around this time and many works relating to it were published. The Interesting Particulars, relative to that Great National Undertaking, the Breakwater was printed for, and sold by J Johns at Plymouth Dock and John Cooke of Union Street, Stonehouse in 1821. This booklet contains two cartographic works: Cooke’s Guide to Plymouth Sound and Breakwater (27), a small map covering the area from Ram Head and Mew Stone and the course of the river as far as Tor Point with an extra plan below the bottom border - Transverse section of the Breakwater. The imprint is that of M^rs E Nile, again at the address of 48, Union Street. The second work is another fairly detailed engraving of two plans of the proposed breakwater at Plymouth (28). The upper plan: PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. When finished has John’s signature. The lower plan: Transverse section of the Breakwater as finish'd has Mrs Nile’s imprint.

As early as 1815 there had been a tentative link between Mrs Nile and John Cooke with the announcement of a new edition of the Synopsis (see above) and the Synopsis parts issued at the Copper-Plate Engraving and Printing Office. In 1820 we have three maps with the imprint of Mrs Nile, and all of them associated with John Cooke, and we have a chart Taken in 1817 produced by the Copper Plate Engraving and Printing Office at 48 Union Street which she seems to have owned and which bears the hallmarks of a Cooke plan. A further enigma is that Mrs E Nile only appears with the arrival of John Cooke and after he leaves her “partnership” she is not heard of again.

Fig. 34. The Solar System as published in the Universal Atlas.

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.

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

[1] The Yale Medical Historical Library has what appears to be two parts recently bound as one.

Napoleon and Cooke´s first Plymouth engravings

Napoleon Bonaparte, hero of Toulon in 1793, visited Plymouth somewhat against his will for ten days in July-August 1815. Napoleon had celebrity status, despite the misery caused to millions and every person who could, tried to make profit out of this unique opportunity. Probably the first to see a money-making opportunity, every resident who owned a boat was keen to hire out their small craft: it is reported that almost 10,000 trippers were taken out in all manner of boats over the ten days. Others offered to supply the various needs of those on HMS Bellerophon such as quantities of provisions, carrying messages or even doing the laundry, but Capt. Maitland was under strict instructions to allow no one on board. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland after negotiations off the French coast and was escorted first to Tor Bay, arriving on July 24^th. The Bellerophon then spent ten days in Sutton Harbour before Napoleon was transferred on August 7th to HMS Northumberland off Berry Head for ultimate exile on St Helena.

Fig. 25. Advert for an engraving of Napoleon Buonaparte, Royal Cornwall Gazette, August 1815.

Napoleon was accompanied on board the Bellerophon by an entourage of officers, men, his surgeon and ladies. Colonel Planat, one of those officers, drew a sketch likeness of the Emperor and this was soon copied. The exact circumstances of the drawing becoming available are not known but within weeks a large number of copies of this were being printed.

One such portrait was that by John Spurgeon[i], a well-known artist. The text title here reads: Napoleon Buonaparte from a sketch by Colonel Planat his private Secretary on board H M S Bellerophon, Plymouth Sound, July 31st 1815. A similar portrait has Napoleon Bonaparte drawn by M Planat Lt. Col. D´artillerie, officier d´ordnance á l´empeur. Eurotas Frigate Augt 7th 1815. Nicolas Louis Planat De La Faye, on hearing of his master´s impending exile, was much affected, and even wept;[ii] he himself being transported on the Eurotas to his place of exile, on Gozo (Malta).[iii] He was bequeathed 40,000 francs in Napoleon´s will.

We know that two local entrepreneurs were offering a print of Napoleon only ten days later: John Cooke and Thomas Huss. In an advertisement dated August 17th, 1815, John Cooke is offering an Engraving by Mr Cooke, Union Street, New Road, Stonehouse and Shortly Will Be Published The most respectable portrait of Napoleon Buonaparte (Fig. 25). In addition, the advert asserts that even Captain Maitland had testified its likeness to the Emperor. Proof Impressions were to cost 5s and subscriptions were requested. These were to be sent to Mr Nettleton of the Royal Cornwall Gazette Office in Truro. This would be Peter Nettleton, Jr, who published the Gazette, also known as the Falmouth Packet and Plymouth Journal.

The publisher of the print was the Stonehouse bookseller and print publisher Thomas Huss. The engraving was executed by John Cooke (Fig. 26).[iv] The title reads NAPOLEON. / Born at Ajaccio Augt 15th 1769 / Engraved by John Cooke, but the imprint is Published for the Proprietor, Septr 29th, 1815, by T. Huss Bookseller, Stonehouse, Devon. Whereas all the other prints seen are sketch likenesses attributed to the pencil of Col. Planat, this print is From a Painting by Lacoste, Deposited in the Imperial Library, Paris. Corrected at Plymouth. 1815. Cooke´s copy is identical to the original as far as the uniform is concerned, but the facial features (and the cockade in the hat) are subtly different. If anything, Cooke makes Napoleon a touch friendlier than he seems in the portrait by Louis-Conil Lacoste (b. July 20, 1773, Castelnaudary d. July 21, 1850), a self-taught artist and engraver.

Fig. 26. Print of Napoleon by John Cooke. ^{^[vi]}

According to Alfred John Dunkin[v], Captain Maitland actually possessed an original copper plate engraving by John Cooke but writes the imprint was Published by T [sic] Cooke, Union Street, Stonehouse, Devon, Aug. 15, 1815, possibly signifying both Cooke and Huss had prints run off for sale, or an earlier edition.

Thomas Huss had been a bookseller and music seller for many years, possibly since the 1790s, and had been involved in selling works by local residents, and may have published a small number with other local booksellers. He was also an agent for lotteries, e.g. selling tickets for Bish`s New Year Lottery in 1814.[vii] Huss ran a circulating library from premises in Chapel St. from c. 1821 which continued for at least another twenty years. When, in 1824, Thomas Huss died Mrs. (Mary) Huss retained the stationery business until at least 1852 and the library continued until at least 1850 when to walk round and view Edgcumbe Park (see 24A), it was necessary “for strangers to make application to Mrs. Huss, bookseller, Stonehouse, when a guide may be obtained for a party not exceeding six persons; but on Mondays free admission is given to the public, without more trouble than entering names at the lodge gate”.[viii]

When Ann Thomas of Millbrook needed her anti-Jacobin novel, Adolphus de Biron. A novel sold, she turned to local booksellers including Thomas Huss. Her novel, set out in a sequence of letters, was printed for the authoress in Plymouth by P. Nettleton and appeared in 1794[9], was published or distributed by Messrs. Nettleton, Wills, and Barnikel, in Plymouth; Mr. Huss, Stonehouse; Messrs. Hoxland, Fraser, and Heydon, Dock; and Mr. Woolmer, Bookseller, Exeter.

Obadiah Prim would certainly have appreciated her contribution to anti-Jacobin sentiments as shown by Adolphus when he said: Look, therefore, ye Sons of Britain, on the awful Scene, which France now presents to your View, with Sentiments worthy of your Character. Regard the Passing Events in awful Silence, and turn our Calamities to your own Advantage, by a due Thankfulness to Providence for the Blessings you enjoy under your well-formed and excellent Constitution.[10]

The next two works signed by John Cooke again clearly link him with Devon but there is a period of two years before they appear: C S Gilbert´s An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall published [Plymouth] Dock by J Congdon in 1817 included a simple chart of Falmouth Harbour (23) and other engravings; and two simpler plans illustrating the Substance of a Statement and depicted a Rail Road from the Forest of Dartmoor to the Plymouth Lime-Quarries. This latter work was published in London, by Harding in 1819 (24) and presented by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt who was instrumental in the construction of the prisoner-of-war camp, popularly known as Dartmoor Prison. Both maps are signed by John Cooke Stonehouse, Plymo.

Fig. 27: Dedication to Hugh Percy in Gilbert´s History of Cornwall.

The Historical Survey of Cornwall was published in two volumes and besides the chart of the harbour was richly illustrated with 25 pages of heraldic arms (Fig. 28). Charles Sandoe Gilbert (1760–1831) was born in the parish of Kenwyn, near Truro, 1760. He became an itinerant vendor of medicines in Cornwall and Devonshire, where his universal remedies were well received and brought him considerable wealth. He later opened shops at Plymouth and Devonport.

Fig. 28: One of 25 sheets of heraldic arms in Gilbert´s History of Cornwall.

Gilbert acquired information which led him to believe that he might claim descent from the Gilberts of Compton Castle, Devonshire, and began to study antiquities and heraldry. In his journeys through Cornwall (and those of his agents) he collected a vast amount of information. The first volume of An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall appeared in 1817. This was richly supported by the then 2nd Duke of Northumberland, Lieutenant General Hugh Percy (1742-1817). The dedicatory panel in the first volume is a showcase of Cooke´s abilities (Fig. 27). Hugh Percy´s death postponed the publishing of the second volume, which came out in 1820, with assistance from the 3rd Duke, also Hugh Percy (1785-1847). It is judged by some to be one of the best and most useful of the books on Cornwall. The work cost double the estimate, and in 1825 Gilbert was made a bankrupt. He moved to London opening a chemist's shop in the Strand where he died, 30 May 1831, and was buried in the churchyard of the Savoy.

Fig. 29. Map title panel, dedication to John Wodehouse in Gilbert´s History of Cornwall.

A large chart of Falmouth Harbour accompanies the work (a copy of one drawn in the reign of King Charles II) and this is signed below the rather intriguing title panel by Cooke (Fig. 29). In addition to the map, Cooke´s signature appears under the arms of the Duke of Northumberland accompanying the dedication in Book 1, and also at the bottom of two Plates (17 and 19) of the 25 pages of heraldic arms in Book 2[11]. Although this second volume was not published until 1820, John Congdon´s imprint with date appears on several of these 25 pages, inferring the arms were ready in 1817.

Although the numerous arms are fairly simple pieces of engraving, the coat of arms above the dedication is a very accomplished piece of engraving and is one of the most ornate pieces that Cooke is known to have executed.

The two volumes are illustrated with a variety of different engravings and woodcuts with portraits of nobles, usually relatives of a sponsor, and views of residences. The frontispiece portrait is of Anthony Payne, an ancestor of George Granville Leveson Gower to whom it is dedicated (and who financed it). Other illustrations include a title page vignette of Treryn Castle signed by J Rickard of Exeter, and woodcuts both within the text and as plates, e.g. the Cheesewring or Cromlechs, engraved by Walker of Newcastle. There are attractive views of properties such as that of Pentillie Castle, home of John Tillie Coryton Esq., this being one of several signed by J C Stadler.

Thomas Tyrwhitt was a colourful figure. Born in Essex, he attended Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford but had a long relationship with Dartmoor. He became private secretary to the Prince of Wales where he probably came into contact with Dartmoor as part of the lands of the Duchy of Cornwall. He became MP for Okehampton in 1796 (until 1802) and bought a farm, which he named Tor Royal, and grew high quality flax. He had several roads built across Dartmoor at this time as well as the hamlet of Prince´s Town, named in honour of his previous employer. He laid the foundation stone of the prisoner-of-war prison buildings on March 20th 1806 and first French and later, American, prisoners-of-war were housed there. That year he became MP for Plymouth. Knighted in 1812 he was forced to amend his plans when the prison emptied. In order to encourage the continued use of the buildings as well as provide better connections to his personal village he invested much energy proposing the construction of a railway from Plymouth to Princetown[12]. The plan drawn for the proposals showed the Line of intended rail road as laid from prison of war to Plymouth Harbour and lime rocks at Catwater.

The railway design consisted of an inclined plane, nine feet broad, bounded on each side by grooved slips of iron, which were fitted to receive the car or wagon passing over them. Tyrwhitt´s report is in fact an advertisement for parliamentary permission and summarises all the advantages such a rail road could bring referring specifically to the plan: The accompanying plan of the line of road is by one of the gentlemen employed on that magnificent work, the Plymouth Breakwater, who has taken the levels with all possible accuracy, and, on the execution of the measure, will be permitted to dedicate his leisure hours to the superintendence of the undertaking (p.27). Reference is made to the plan again under Benefits: The plan, annexed to this pamphlet, is founded on actual surveys, taken by a gentleman, whose skill has been manifested in various important works, and whose capability of performing whatever he undertakes is guaranteed by his long experience. These two comments are certainly not about John Cooke, but refer to Mr William Stuart[13] who was superintendent of the Plymouth breakwater project at that time, an undertaking that clearly impressed Cooke.

Fig. 30. Plate 13 from Synopsis of Geography, 1812.