Barrow's best-known work was Navigatio Britannica (1750), a practical handbook of navigation and charts still being advertised by its publisher, Mount & Page, in 1787.
It was not realized until the 20th century that John Barrow the "geographical compiler" mentioned in the British Dictionary of National Biography (1885 onwards) and the teacher of mathematics were the same person.
[2] In the same year, he also published the first edition of his principal work, A Chronological Abridgment or History of the Discoveries made by Europeans in the different parts of the world, whose introduction shows considerable knowledge of astronomical geography in relation to finding latitude and longitude by the stars.
The French translation seems to have had more repute than the original work, but even in France Barrow's History of Discoveries was in a few years superseded by that of the Abbé Prévost.
[2] Barrow created illustrations for Sketches Representing the Native Tribes, Animals, and Scenery of Southern Africa, working alongside Samuel Daniell.