BRADSHAW'S RAILWAY TIME TABLES, and Assistant to Railway Travelling, with Illustrative Maps & Plans.

First edition, first printing of the first complete English railway timetable. Original purple cloth with green and gold title label to the upper board (priced 1/-). Illustrated with a front fold-out map of the railways of England and Wales, 4 double page maps showing different lines (one with the lines hand-coloured yellow and pink), and 4 double page maps of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the extremities lightly rubbed, with a small stain to the upper board and fading to the spine. The contents, with two small (1cm) breaches to the top edges between pages, are lightly spotted to the pastedowns and otherwise clean throughout and free from inscriptions or stamps. The folding map, with the different lines hand-coloured in red and yellow by a previous owner (not as issued) and some toning to the verso is otherwise free from loss or tears. Scarce.

The third of Bradshaw's famous railway timetables, the first of which had appeared on 19th October 1839, restricted to northern railways, with a second for southern railways on 25th October. This third issue, a combination of the the two and also published on 25th October, is the first to the cover the whole of England. The fold-out map it contains is also considered to be the first national railway map in the world. A lovely copy of the first edition of this important, pioneering publication in the history of Britain's railways.