Biography:
Thomas Bankes: 18th century collector of maps and engravings and vicar of Dixton, Monmouthshire, whose New and Authentic System of Universal Geography (London, C. Cooke, ca. 1788-90) compiled views from various countries, including some detailing the voyages of Captain James Cook.
Thomas Bankes, Edward Warren Blake, and Alexander Cook’s A New Royal Authentic and Complete System of Universal Geography (hereafter Thomas Bankes’s). A massive folio volume of 990 double-columned pages, this was a popular work, running to six editions in the years from 1775 to 1797