The London Atlas of Universal Geography (1834 First Issue)

The first issue of Arrowsmith’s great Victorian atlas, regarded as among the great 19th-century atlases. Complete with its listed fifty maps and with the three early sheets devoted to Australia.

John Arrowsmith (1790–1873) inherited the family’s map-publishing house and, from 1832, issued the plates of this atlas as the London Atlas of Universal Geography. It reached its first complete form in 1834 with fifty maps. The scheme runs from the ancient world and Mercator’s projection through the countries of Europe to Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas. The plates were the standard British general atlas of their day and were revised, supplemented and reissued for decades. Francis Herbert’s study of its bibliography found its issues so fluid that title-page dates give only a rough guide to what a copy contains.

Three sheets are of particular interest to Australian collectors: Discoveries in Australia, Western Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. The Western Australia sheet, dated May 1833, maps the young Swan River settlement and was a late addition to the atlas. Later issues added many more Australian plates, so a copy with just these three preserves the atlas as it first appeared. It is also free of the Texas map, which was not published until 1841.

The full list of maps is as follows:

1. World, as known to the Ancients
2. World, on Mercator's Projection
3. Europe, general map
4. England & Wales, divided into Counties
5. England & Wales
6. Scotland
7. Ireland
8. Sweden & Norway
9. Denmark, with a supplementary map of Iceland
10. Holland & Belgium, including Luxembourg
11. France, in Departments
12. Western Germany
13. Prussia & Poland
14. Russia, including Poland & Finland
15. Austrian Empire
16. Switzerland
17. North Italy
18. South Italy
19. Turkey in Europe
20. Greece & the Ionian Islands
21. Spain & Portugal
22. Africa, general map
23. North-Western Africa
24. Cape of Good Hope & South Africa
25. Nubia & Abyssinia
26. Egypt, including the Peninsula of Mount Sinai
27. Asia, general map
28. Asia Minor & or Turkey in Asia
29. Persia, Cabul, Beloochistan
30. India or Hindoostan
31. Brumah, Siam, & Cochin China, including the greater part of the Malaysian Peninsula
32. China, proper
33. Northern Asia
34. Asiatie Archipelago
35. Discoveries in Australia
36. Western Australia
37. Van Diemen's Land
38. Pacific Ocean
39. America, general map
40. British North America
41. Upper Canada
42. Lower Canada
43. United States
44. Mexico
45. West Indies & Guatimala
46. South America, general map
47. Colombia
48. Peru & Bolivia
49. Brazil
50. La Plata & Chile

All maps have been collated against the index list and in reference to bibliographic sources.

The London Atlas of Universal Geography. Exhibiting the Physical & Political Divisions of the Various Countries of the World, Constructed from Original Materials. First issue. Atlas folio [approx. 56 x 38 cm]. Engraved title page, contents leaf, and 50 engraved maps in colour. Contents printed to recto only. Later half burgundy calf over marbled paper boards, with the gilt title on the original titling panel. The leather is superb, strong and flexible; the boards are a little rubbed. Contents complete per the index page, with all maps present and in the correct order. Some chipping to page edges, not affecting the maps, and scattered markings and toning. Large crease running vertically through title page. A very good copy.

ASMP, Rumsey, Getty

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This volume is currently on display in our Paddington store. For viewing or more information, please contact: rarebooks@harryhartog.com.au

Catalogue Number: HH000753