Bernard. An Hibernian Atlas; or, General Description of the Kingdom of Ireland [THE RARE FIRST EDITION]

Divided into Provinces; with its sub-divisions of Counties, Baronies, &c. Shewing their Boundaries, Extent, Soil, Produce, Contents, Measure, Members of Parliament, and Number of Inhabitants; also the Cities, Boroughs, Villages, Mountains, Bogs, Lakes, Rivers and Natural Curiosities. Together with the Great and Bye Post Roads. The whole taken from actual Surveys and Observations, By Bernard Scale, Land Surveyor, and beautifully engraved ... Published as the Act directs, 1 Feb. 1776. London: Printed for Robert Sayer, and John Bennet, Map and Printsellers, No. 53 in Fleet Street; and may be had of the Author, at his House in Dublin, and at Mangroves, near Brentwood, Essex, [1776]. First edition. Quarto. Contains 37 hand-coloured maps, interleaved with pages of text printed on the versos. Bound by Paddy Kavanagh at Museum Bookbinders in half brown morocco on marbled boards, spine divided into six panels by five raised bands, title in gilt on brown morocco label in the second. Early notes in ink on verso of Wexford. A near fine copy of the rare first edition.
ESTC N49870 with 3 locations only in Ireland. Bonar Law A12.
Bernard Scalè (fl. 1756-1780.), surveyor and topographer, dominated a school of land surveyors in mid-eighteenth century Ireland. He was brother-in-law and pupil of John Rocque, whom he assisted in the surveys for the Maps of Dublin City and its environs published in 1756. He practised as a land surveyor in Abbey Street, and issued a number of maps and some views of Dublin buildings. Chubb described his magnum opus as: “A beautifully prepared atlas, containing thirty-seven finely engraved maps of the provinces and counties of Ireland. Each map is preceded by an engraved plate of letter press giving a description of the county or province ... The compass indicators, on the maps, are of a highly decorative character ...”. With 37 hand coloured maps including: Map of Ireland; Four Maps of the Provinces; Thirty-two Maps of the Counties.