Overland Route to India
Circa 1850s
Later hand-coloured steel engraving on paper
Print Size: 13.25 x 10.25 in (33.5 x 26 cm)
With Mount: 19.5 x 16.5 in (49.5 x 42 cm)
Published by London: John Tallis & Co., Circa 1850s
Gorgeous example of this decorative map of India engraved by J Rapkin (vignettes by H Warren & J H Kernot). Map, showing the various trade routes to Europe, with a larger map of Europe and the Mediterranean at the top, and a detailed regional map of the Middle East and Western India at the bottom.
Decorative vignettes of Gibraltar, the London Post Office, Malta, Aden, Madras and Bombay, and the Mail Crossing the Desert by Camel. The key shows the Mail Steam Packet Route (orange); Marseilles Overland Route (green); German Overland Route (dark blue); Euphrates Route (turquoise). Engraved for R Montgomery Martin's The Illustrated Atlas, And Modern History Of The World Geographical, Political, Commercial & Statistical also in Tallis's Illustrated Atlas and Modern History of the World: Geographical, Political, Commercial & Statistical edited by R Montgomery Martin.
John Rapkin (1813-1899)
John Rapkin, an English mapmaker and engraver, was born on 18 July 1813 and passed away on 20 June 1899. Rapkin, the son of shoemaker George Rapkin and his wife Elizabeth Harfy, was born in Southwark. Rapkin and his brother Richard both pursued careers as engravers, while his other brother, William Harfy Rapkin, became a copperplate printer. Rapkin completed projects for James Wyld and John Tallis, such as The United States and the Relative Position of Oregon and Texas in 1845 and a series of eighty maps for Tallis that were compiled into Tallis’s Illustrated Atlas and Modern History of the Globe in 1851. Rapkin married Frances Wilmot Rudell on January 4, 1837, and they had at least eight children. Several of his sons, including John Benjamin Rapkin (1837–1914), Alfred Thomas Rapkin (1841–1905), Joseph Clarke Rapkin (1846? - 1912), and Frederick William Rapkin (1859–1945), became engravers. From 1867 to 1883, Rapkin operated under the imprint John Rapkin and Sons. By 1887, he was operating under the name John Rapkin and Sons. Rapkin passed away at the age of 85 in 1899, shortly following the passing of his wife of more than sixty years.
John Tallis (1817-1876)
John Tallis was one of the most popular cartographers of the 19th Century and one of the last great decorative map makers. Tallis was renowned for the very accurate and visually attractive maps and views of all world areas during the Victorian Age. His maps are prized for the wonderful vignettes of indigenous scenes, people, etc.
"John Tallis (7 November 1817 - 3 June 1876) was an English cartographic publisher. His company, John Tallis & Company, published views, maps, and atlases in London from roughly 1838 to 1851.
Tallis set up as a publisher with Frederick Tallis in Cripplegate in 1842; the business moved to Smithfield in 1846 and was dissolved in 1849. From 1851 to 1854, Tallis operated as John Tallis & Company. He started the Illustrated News of the World, which issued engraved portraits as supplements in a series entitled National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages in 1858, selling it for 1,370 pounds in 1861; it folded in 1863.
He lived in New Cross, South East London. His house on New Cross Road is listed as a Building of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, grade II. It has a blue plaque on the wall to signal the event." (Source: Wikipedia)
This lot will be shipped unframed.
NON-EXPORTABLE
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition.