| Method | Offset lithograph |
| Artist | [Anonymous] |
| Published | Supplement to the Illustrated London News, May 5 1885. |
| Dimensions | 515 x 690 mm |
| Notes |
A large folding map of the world on the Mercator Projection, issued as a supplement to the London Illustrated News in 1885 to illustrate the extent of the British Empire and its possessions around the globe. The map positions the British isles at centre, with British possessions and key trading points and regions of authority marked in pink. The Russian Empire is marked in yellow, and other regional and national borders are outlined in yellow and green. Cities, islands, ports, harbours, and territories that are under British control but are two small to mark pictorially and labelled in red text. Other geographical titles are marked in black. The newest acquisition is British New Guinea, the south-eastern part of the island, which was placed under British authority in 1884, adding a third colonial power to an island that was already divided up between the Dutch and German Empires. Antartica is largely absent, with only the most northerly part of the Antarctic Peninsula visible near the South Shetland Islands. Likewise, in the Arctic, Franz Josef Land is shown with indistinct coasts, and parts of the northern coasts of Greenland and the Nunavut archipelago in Canada are unmapped. Along the bottom border of the map, a large textual panel provides demographic and economic information for the Empire, demonstrating in sobering statistics just how valuable British India was to the Empire during the Victorian era, producing practically as much in imports and exports per year as the rest of the Empire combined. The Illustrated London News was a popular weekly magazine, initiated by Herbert Ingram in 1842 as the world's first illustrated news magazine. The ILN's artistic output was prodigious, resulting in thousands of woodcut illustrations over its lifetime, and securing its position as one of the two most successful and enduring publications of its kind throughout the Victorian era, alongside its main competitor The Graphic, which was established in 1869. Condition: Pressed central vertical and horizontal folds, as issued. Minor creasing to sheet. Trimmed along top border, with partial loss to publication line, as issued. Blank on verso. Framed in black box frame. |
| Framing | framed |
| Price | £700.00 |
| Stock ID | 51007 |