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This is still the most comprehensive bibliography of books on the topography of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, including many works of local importance, since it classifies nearly 14,000 titles by place, based upon the holdings of the British Museum. An invaluable feature of this work is that local directories, guides, and handbooks have been incorporated into a topographical catalog.

The method of classification is as follows: First, all the books relating to the United Kingdom in general, or to the whole of either England, Wales, Scotland, or Ireland are arranged according to the nature of their contents, under such headings as "Directories," "Gazetteers," "Guides," etc. Second, all the books relating to distinct counties or particular places are classified under the respective counties, those treating a district as a whole being placed first, and the individual places following in alphabetical order. Under each subdivision, the succession of entries is chronological. Titles covering several towns or counties are repeated under each. The subject heading are those in the British Museum Catalogue, which at that time (1881) was in 2,000 odd manuscript volumes.

Since the researcher needs to study the locality where the family resided before inquiring for the records of an English, Scotch, Irish, or Welsh ancestor, and since the modern gazetteers, atlases, etc., are of little value, this catalog is an invaluable source for finding books about the ancient places, with all the relevant topographical, historical, and statistical data.

Our publication is a reprint of the original edition of 1881.