Thomas Jefferys

Thomas Jefferys was a publisher and map engraver of note, who flourished c.1732 to 1771.

His premises were in Clerkenwell, but later he lived and worked in the St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross area in London.

He issued a small atlas of county maps with Thomas Kitchin, in 1749, each map having a list of towns with their fairs and markets at the base.

Jefferys also made very fine original large scale surveys, published from 1747, of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire (with T. Eyre), Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Durham (with Robert Sayer).

But his accurate and remarkable series of maps and charts relating to North America and the West Indies are today considered his most important work. They are made up of detailed maps of each state, of the coastlines, and of the West Indies, taken almost island by island.

He died on November 20th, 1771, and the business was continued and expanded by William Faden.