Untitled [Map of Northern India and Southern India Including the Presidencies of Bombay & Madras]

a) John Rapkin after John Tallis
Northern India
Circa 1850s
Later hand-coloured steel engraving on paper
Print Size: 10 x 12.75 in (25.2 x 32 cm)
With Mount: 16.25 x 19 in (41 x 48 cm)

A highly decorative hand-coloured and detailed mid-19th-century map of Northern India, which was drawn and engraved by J Rapkin (vignettes by A H Wray & J H Kernot) and published in John Tallis's Illustrated Atlas (London & New York: John Tallis & Co.,circa 1850s).

The Illustrated Atlas, published from 1849 to 1853, was the last decorative world atlas. The Northern India map was typical of the many fine ones that appeared in this work with its decorative border and attractive vignettes. Illustrated are views of the British Residency in Hyderabad, the ruins of Old Delhi, a “Car of Juggernaut”, a tigerhunt, and “Hindoos” (an Indian man and woman).

b) John Rapkin after John Tallis
Southern India Including the Presidencies of Bombay & Madras
1851
Later hand-coloured steel engraving on paper
Print Size: 12.75 x 10 in (32 x 25.2 cm)
With Mount: 19 x 16.25 in (48 x 41 cm)

Later, hand-coloured the southern part of India in outline colour surrounded by drawings of local sites and cities. The map displays the seal of the East India Company. An architecturally influenced border surrounds the map.

John Rapkin (1813-1899)
John Rapkin, an English mapmaker and engraver, was born on July 18, 1813, and passed away on June 20, 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 for Wyld in 1845 and a series of 80 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 (7 November 1817 - 3 June 1876) 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.

His company, John Tallis & Company, published views, maps, and atlases in London from roughly 1838 to 1851.

Tallis established himself as a publisher alongside Frederick Tallis in Cripplegate in 1842, relocated the business to Smithfield in 1846, and dissolved it 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, Southeast London. The Building of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, grade II, lists his house on New Cross Road. It has a blue plaque on the wall to signal the event.

(Set of two)

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.