A collection of essays concerned with topographical writers who published work on the west country between c. 1600 and 1900. It provides an assessment of some famous writers such as Leland, a guide to the sources for the west Country and an analysis of the development of the genre. The papers are: The Development of Topographical Writing in the South West ( Mark Brayshay ), John Leland in the West Country ( John Chandler ), Some Early Topographies of Devon and Cornwall ( Joyce Youings ), Somerset Topographical Writings, 1600-1900 ( Robert Dunning ), Early Topographers, Antiquarians and Travellers in Dorset ( Joseph Bettey ), Richard Colt Hoare, Samuel Lysons and Antiquity ( Malcolm Todd ), Agricultural Improvers and the Topography of South-West England ( Sarah Wilmot ). The book includes a valuable gazetteer of collections in Devon and Cornwall where copies of the works of local topographical writers can be found.