For the first time in almost 50 years, two superb Ogilby atlases have been reunited with their former home, Belton House.

Ogilby was one of the most significant English publishers of atlases, and Belton's copy of his 1675 road atlas of England and Wales was purchased by the National Trust at auction in 2010.

The equivalent of a modern day SatNav, the road atlas - the first ever produced for England and Wales - was essentially a book in the form of strip maps guiding the traveller from A to B.

Simon Chesters-Thompson, National Trust Curator, said: "While today we might worry about heavy traffic on the motorway, these fascinating atlases are from a time when roads were muddy, rutted tracks and all travel could be extremely dangerous."

The maps were based on on-the-ground research facilitated by a wheeled contraption to measure distances. Ogilby's work set the standard for later atlases and was pivotal in standardising the English mile.

In November 2018, the Brownlow family's original copy of Ogilby's 1671 atlas of the Americas was also repurchased at Arader Galleries auction house in the USA to ensure its return home to Belton House.

Having recently re-acquired the late 17th century Ogilby book of America, the house and collections team have reunited the two atlases, which can now be seen on display in the Ante-Library.

The two Ogilby atlases were originally owned by Sir John Brownlow, fifth Baronet and Viscount Tyrconnel (1690-1754). Tyrconnel, known as the great collector, assembled a collection of books on science, history, travel, theology, literature and the classics.

A further four Ogilby atlases once at Belton are still to be found. They are the volumes of Africa, Asia, China and Japan. So, anyone who happens to come across them or knows of their whereabouts is asked to contact the National Trust Collection team via [email protected].