France

Method Steel engraved with original hand colour
Artist Rapkin, John
Published John Tallis & Company, London & New York. The Illustrations by J. Wray & Engraved by J. Rogers. The Map Drawn & Engraved by J. Rapkin [c.1856]
Dimensions 255 x 315 mm
Notes A decorative map of France, divided into provinces, and surrounded by vignettes including the garden of the Palais Royal, the Harbour of Calais, the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Bridge of Toulouse, and two examples of national dress. The whole is enclosed in one of Rapkin's signature decorative borders topped with a green man.

John Tallis was a British publisher and one of the most popular cartographers of the 19th Century. Tallis maps were highly valued for their accuracy, but perhaps more so for their charming vignettes and ornamentation. Engraved by John Rapkin, these maps were praised by the New York Sun as "the most accurate and most splendid publication of the kind ever issued". The Bristol Times observed that Mr. Tallis maps "are not only critically correct, but are accompanied with elegant and appropriate engravings illustrative of the manners and costumes of the different countries."

John Rapkin was an engraver and mapmaker active in Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. He drew and engraved the maps for John Tallis' 'The Illustrated Atlas and Modern History of the World' (1845-51), which was later re-issued by the London Printing and Publishing Company. He also drew and engraved maps for R. Montgomery Martin's 'British Colonies, their history' (1849), and Wright's 'Universal Pronouncing Dictionary' (c.1850).

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning to margins.
Framing unmounted
Price £100.00
Stock ID 48351

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