British America

Method Steel engraved with original hand colour
Artist Rapkin, John
Published John Tallis & Company, London & New York. The Illustrations by H. Warren & Engraved by R. Wallis. The Map Drawn & Engraved by J. Rapkin. [c.1850]
Dimensions 265 x 329 mm
Notes A decorative map of British America, modern Canada, from Tallis' Illustrated Atlas. The map is surrounded with vignettes of Inuit 'Esquimaux', native animals, whale fishing, and a view of Montreal. Provincial borders are outlined in hand colour, and the map is surrounded by an ornate strapwork border with acanthus roundels.

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. Time toning to edges of sheet. Blank on verso.
Framing unmounted
Price £180.00
Stock ID 48616

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