An Imperfect Land!
Well before Sat-Nav and GPS a gentleman needed an accurate guide to the country. Often small maps that could be taken with you on your travels would be used. Sydney Hall was a well known map-maker from the Victorian era and he produced many maps that were not too big that might be carried about with you.
In 1855, he published this ‘travelling atlas of the English Counties with all the railways’, about the size of an iPad mini!
There were 46 maps, all the counties of England, the Channel Islands, folding maps of Wales, Scotland and Ireland and a double-page general map of England and Wales. The maps are detailed and hand-coloured, with heights shown by shading or hachuring as well as including the canals and railways that existed then.
I bought this atlas in the late 70’s for about £20 as it was in a sorry state, that’s why I got it cheap as even then they were selling for several hundred pounds fully restored. At present, all the maps are loose as there is no spine although the back and front boards are present. The pages are yellowed often with some edge damage. I had intended to sell off the maps individually but decided to keep the collection together. It just needs a good restorer to work their magic on it. Do you know one?
For ‘Crazy Tuesday’, theme ‘Imperfection’.
An Imperfect Land!
Well before Sat-Nav and GPS a gentleman needed an accurate guide to the country. Often small maps that could be taken with you on your travels would be used. Sydney Hall was a well known map-maker from the Victorian era and he produced many maps that were not too big that might be carried about with you.
In 1855, he published this ‘travelling atlas of the English Counties with all the railways’, about the size of an iPad mini!
There were 46 maps, all the counties of England, the Channel Islands, folding maps of Wales, Scotland and Ireland and a double-page general map of England and Wales. The maps are detailed and hand-coloured, with heights shown by shading or hachuring as well as including the canals and railways that existed then.
I bought this atlas in the late 70’s for about £20 as it was in a sorry state, that’s why I got it cheap as even then they were selling for several hundred pounds fully restored. At present, all the maps are loose as there is no spine although the back and front boards are present. The pages are yellowed often with some edge damage. I had intended to sell off the maps individually but decided to keep the collection together. It just needs a good restorer to work their magic on it. Do you know one?
For ‘Crazy Tuesday’, theme ‘Imperfection’.