John Ogilby

Portrait of John Ogilby from a 1660 Edition of Homer's The Iliad

Image from John Ogilby's 1675 "Britannia" atlas, showing the route from Newmarket, Suffolk to Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.

John Ogilby (November 1600 – 4 September 1676) was a Scottish translator, impresario and cartographer. He is known best for his Britannia Atlas of 1675, which was perhaps the first British road atlas, and set the standard for those that followed (for example, in the use of 1760 yards for the mile, which was not then standard, and in his use of the scale of one inch to the mile (1/63360)). NB: Some of the minor roads used the local mile rather than the not-yet-standard mile of 1760 standard yards.

Ogilby was born in or near Edinburgh in November 1600. His father was a prisoner within the jurisdiction of the King's Bench, presumably for bankruptcy or debt, but by speculation the son found money to apprentice himself to a dancing master and to obtain his father's release.

He accompanied Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, when he went to Ireland as lord deputy, and became tutor to his children. Strafford made him deputy-Master of the Revels, and he built the Theatre Royal, Dublin, which was very successful.

The outbreak of the English Civil War ruined his fortunes, and in 1646 he returned to Great Britain. Finding his way to Cambridge, he learned Latin from kindly scholars who had been impressed by his industry. He then ventured to translate Virgil into English verse (1649-1650), which brought him a considerable sum of money. The success of this attempt encouraged Ogilby to learn Greek from David Whitford, who was usher in the school kept by James Shirley the dramatist.

His property was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, but he rebuilt his house in Whitefriars, and set up a printing press, from which he issued many magnificent books, the most important of which were a series of atlases, with engravings and maps by Hollar and others. He styled himself "His Majesty's Cosmographer and Geographic Printer."

The Scottish philosopher David Hume used Ogilby's work to illustrate the idea that common sense frequently appeals to a "standard of taste" in aesthetic matters: "Whoever would assert an equality of genius and elegance between Ogilby and Milton, or Bunyan and Addison, would be thought to defend no less an extravagance, than if he had maintained a mole-hill to be as high as Teneriffe, or a pond as extensive as the ocean." (Hume, "Of the Standard of Taste." This essay originally appeared in Hume's Four Dissertations (1757).)

Ogilby died in London in 1676.

List of 100 plates in Ogilby's 1675 'Britannia' Atlas

1. London, Acton, Uxbridge, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Tetsworth, Oxford, Islip
2. Islip, Moreton-in-Marsh, Broadway, Pershore, Bromyard, Worcester
3. Bromyard, Leominster, Presteign, Aberystwyth
4. London, Ewell, Dorking, Billingshurst, Amberley, Arundel, Chichester
5. London, Waltham, Hoddesdon, Ware, Royston, Huntingdon, Stilton
6. Stilton, Stamford, Grantham, Newark, Tuxford
7. Tuxford, Doncaster, Wentbridge, Tadcaster, York
8. York, Boroughbridge, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham, Chester-le-Street
9. Chester-le-Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick, Belford, Berwick
10. London, Hounslow, Maidenhead, Reading, Newbury, Hungerford, Marlborough
11. Marlborough, Calne, Chippenham, Bristol, Axbridge, Huntspill
12. London, Acton, Uxbridge, Amersham, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Banbury
13. Banbury, Stratford,^{[disambiguation needed]} Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Bridgnorth, Banbury, Camden
14. London, Brentford, Hounslow, Colnbrook, Slough, Maidenhead, Abingdon
15. Abingdon, Faringdon, Fairford, Barnsley, Gloucester, Monmouth
16. Monmouth, Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Aberavon, Burton
17. Burton, Kidwelly, Haverfordwest, St Davids
18. London, Southwark, Rochester, Canterbury, Dover
19. London, Romford, Brentford, Chelmsford, Colchester, Harwich
20. London, Farningham, Maidstone, Ashford, Hythe
21. London, High Barnet, St Albans, Dunstable, Stony Stratford, Towcester
22. Towcester, Daventry, Coventry, Lichfield
23. Lichfield, Rugeley, Stone, Stableford, Nantwich, Tarporley, Chester
24. Chester, Denbigh, Conway, Beaumaris, Holyhead
25. London, Hounslow, Staines, Basingstoke, Andover
26. Andover, Salisbury, Shaftsbury, Sherborne, Crewkerne
27. Crewkerne, Honiton, Exeter, Ashburton, Plymouth
28. Plymouth, Fowey, Tregony, Penzance, Land's End
29. London, Croydon, East Grinstead, Lewes, Newhaven, Brighton, Shoreham
30. London, Wandsworth, Cobham, Godalming, Petersfield, Portsmouth
31. London, Bromley, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Rye
32. Andover, Warminster, Bruton, Bridgwater
33. Bridgwater, Dulverton, Barnstaple, Torrington, Hatherleigh
34. Hatherleigh, Camelford, Padstow, St Columb, Truro
35. Chippenham, Bath, Wells, Marlborough, Devizes, Trowbridge, Wells
36. Stilton, Peterborough, Spalding, Boston, Sleaford, Lincoln
37. Darleston, Brewerton, Warrington, Wigan, Preston, Garstang
38. Garstang, Lancaster, Bolton, Kendal, Penrith, Carlisle
39. Guildford, Midhurst, Chichester, Midhurst, Petersfield, Winchester
40. Stony Stratford, Northampton, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Derby
41. Temsford, Stilton, Peterborough, Market Deeping, Sleaford, Lincoln
42. Lincoln, Barton, Hull, Beverley, Flamborough
43. Puckeridge, Cambridge, Ely, Downham, King's Lynn
44. Four shire stone, Chipping Campden, Worcester, Ludlow, Montgomery
45. High Barnet, Hatfield, Baldock, Biggleswade, St Neots, Oakham
46. Puckeridge, Newmarket, Thetford, Attleborough, Windham, Norwich
47. St Albans, Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Oakham
48. Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Nottingham, Mansfield, Rotherham, Barnsley
49. Barnsley, Halifax, Skipton, Middleham, Richmond
50. Meriden, Birmingham, Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, Welshpool
51. Bagshot, Farnham, Alton, Alresford, Southampton, Romsey, Salisbury
52. Newmarket, Swaffham, Wells, Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds
53. Basingstoke, Stockbridge, Cranborne, Blandford, Dorchester, Weymouth
54. Colchester, Ipswich, Saxmundham, Beccles, Yarmouth
55. Bristol, Chipping Sodbury, Tetbury, Cirencester, Burford, Banbury
56. Bristol, Chepstow, Monmouth, Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow
57. Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Whitchurch^{[disambiguation needed]}, Chester
58. Bristol, Wells, Glastonbury, Taunton, Exeter
59. Bristol, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Worcester
60. Bristol, Wells, Crewkerne, Frampton, Weymouth
61. Cambridge, St Neots, Northampton, Rugby, Coventry
62. Carlisle, Jedburgh, Kelso, Berwick
63. Chester, Wrexham, Newtown, Llanbader
64. Llanbadardfynydd, Brecon, Cardiff
65. Dartmouth, Exeter, Tiverton, Minehead
66. St Davids, Fishguard, Cardigan, Talybont
67. Talybont, Bala, Ruthin, Holywell
68. Exeter, Chumleigh, Ilfracombe, Bideford, Torrington
69. Exeter, Tavistock, Liskeard, Truro
70. Gloucester, Cheltenham, Chipping Campden, Warwick, Coventry
71. Gloucester, Ross-on-Wye, Hereford, Knighton, Montgomery
72. Hereford, Worcester, Droitwich, Bromsgrove, Coventry, Leicester
73. Huntingdon, Ely, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich
74. Ipswich, Thwaite, Norwich, Cromer
75. King's Lynn, Thetford, Stowmarket, Harwich
76. King's Lynn, Gayton, Billingford, Norwich, Yarmouth
77. Monmouth, Abergavenny, Brecon, Llanbadarnfynydd
78. Nottingham, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Grimsby
79. Oxford, Faringdon, Malmesbury, Bristol
80. Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Cambridge
81. Oxford, Newbury, Basingstoke, Petersfield, Chichester
82. Oxford, Banbury, Coventry, Ashby-de-la-Zouche, Derby
83. Oxford, Hungerford, Salisbury, Cranborne, Poole
84. Presteign, Builth Wells, Llandovery, Carmarthen
85. Salisbury, Marlborough, Lechlade, Chipping Campden
86. Tynemouth, Newcastle, Hexham, Haltwhistle, Carlisle
87. Welshpool, Dolgellau, Caernarvon
88. York, Ripley, Skipton, Settle, Lancaster
89. York, Leeds, Rochdale, Manchester, Warrington
90. Warrington, Chester, Manchester, Stockport, Derby
91. Carmarthen, Cardigan, Llanbadardfynydd, Aberystwyth
92. Chelmsford, Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds
93. Chelmsford, Maldon, Rayleigh, Ingatestone, Billericay, Gravesend, Dover
94. Exeter, Colyford, Lyme Regis, Bridport, Dorchester, Plymouth, Dartmouth
95. Ferrybridge, Boroughbridge, Ripon, Barnard Castle, Ferrybridge, Wakefield
96. Kendal, Ambleside, Cockermouth, Egremont, Cockermouth, Carlisle
97. Alresford, Winchester, Poole, Christchurch, Southampton, Winchester
98. Shrewsbury, Wrexham, Holywell, Chester, Flint, Holywell
99. Whitby, Guisborough, Stockton, Durham, Sunderland, Tynemouth
100. York, Pickering, Whitby, New Malton, Sherburn, Scarborough

External links

• Works by or about John Ogilby in libraries (WorldCat catalog)