Samuel Lewis (publisher)

Samuel Lewis (c.1782 – 1865) was the editor and publisher of topographical dictionaries and maps of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the texts was to give in 'a condensed form', a faithful and impartial description of each place. The firm of Samuel Lewis and Co. was based in London. Samuel Lewis the elder died in 1865. His son of the same name predeceased him in 1862.

This work contains every fact of importance tending to illustrate the local history of England. Arranged alphabetically by place (village, parish, town, etc.), it provides a faithful description of all English localities as they existed at the time of first publication (1831), showing exactly where a particular civil parish was located in relation to the nearest town or towns, the barony, county, and province in which it was situated, its principal landowners, the diocese in which it was situated, and—of novel importance—the Roman Catholic district in which the parish was located and the names of corresponding Catholic parishes. There were six subsequent editions, the last of which (1848-9) was in four volumes and an atlas.

First published in 1833, there was a second edition in 1844 and a third (in two volumes and an atlas) in 1849.

The title page of the first edition gives an indication of the ambitious scope of the work:

"A topographical dictionary of Wales, comprising the several counties, cities, boroughs, corporate and market towns, parishes, chapelries, and townships, with historical and statistical descriptions; illustrated by maps of the different counties; and a map of wales, showing the principal towns, roads, railways, navigable rivers, and canals; and embellished with engravings of the arms of the cities, bishoprics, corporate towns, and boroughs; and of the seals of the several municipal corporations. With an appendix, describing the electoral boundaries of the several boroughs, as defined by the late act. By Samuel Lewis in two volumes."

The work is in two large volumes with a folding map of Wales and separate county maps facing the entry for each individual county.

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