1886 Picturesque Atlas of Australasia Large Antique Map of Western Australia

The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia. 28in x 18in (710mm x 460mm). This large original antique map of Western Australia divided into 6 districts and an inset map of the City of Perth was engraved by Alex J Scally and was published in the extremely significant Australian & New Zealand publication The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia between 1886-88. Also includes an index to the map on the verso giving names and locations of places on the map.

These maps were some of the best maps published at the time in the "Modern" look. The colour is bright, the engraving extremely fine and the paper heavy and stable.

Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable Paper color : - off white Age of map color: - Original Colors used: - Blue, yellow, red, green General color appearance: - Authentic Paper size: - 28in x 18in (710mm x 460mm) Plate size: - 28in x 18in (710mm x 460mm) Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm). Margins: - None Plate area: - Light browning to top and bottom of image Verso: - None.

The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia First published in Sydney between 1886-88. Many of its over 700 wood-engraved illustrations were specially commissioned works by leading Australian artists. Its publication was one of the most significant cultural projects in nineteenth-century Australia. Writers, artists, academics and politicians came together to prepare a book of unprecedented grandeur and ambition, and a publishing company was established to produce and publish it.

The seven hundred engravings on steel and wood contained in the Picturesque Atlas were among the finest engravings to be found anywhere in the world at this time. The Atlas was a collegial project, staffed by a large number of artists and garnering an unusual number of contributors for one work. Lightly supervised by the former Sydney Morning Herald editor Andrew Garran it was lavishly produced at the Wynyard Square headquarters of the Atlas company. It had the services of the Melburnian journalist and public figure James Smith who wrote much of the Victorian and Tasmanian material, and W. Traill wrote extensively about Queensland.

It was not, of course, an Atlas is the usual sense of the word, maps playing a comparatively minor role. But use of Atlas in the title, Hughes-d'Aeth notes, gave a sense of the scale of the publication both in terms of comprehensiveness and format. As the author points out, calling it an Atlas carries a promise of the exactitude of the relationship between the subject and its representation, and also bears a sense of the acquisitiveness that shadows the imperial phase of cartography.

There were only thirty maps in the Atlas's 800 pages, but there were hundreds of pictures. This is where much of the ideological work of the Atlas was completed and this is where Paper Nation concentrates its analysis. Its first task is to unravel the linguistic ball of string that is the word'picturesque'.

Though Humphrey Repton and Uvedale Price had their opinions, Hughes-d'Aeth is quite right to pick William Gilpin out of the line-up of suspicious aesthetes, for it was he who really popularised the idea of travelling in search of picturesque views. Paper Nation's dissection of the term picturesque is particularly aware of the term's adaptation to colonial usage, and its mutations through time. The picturesque took on an increasingly acquisitive edge, as admiration of the beauty of the land was joined by a concern to exploit it. A'deep reverence for production' can be seen in the Picturesque Atlas's many illustrations of mines, factories and agricultural processes. The slag heaps of a mine were now as'picturesque' as a fern-filled valley, but this does mean that the term was evacuated of all meaning.

Rather the aesthetic appropriation of the land and its material exploitation were part of a continuum of colonial attitudes, and it was the duty of the Picturesque Atlas to affirm and re-affirm the rightness of European habitation and progress. What is an Antique Map. The word Antique in the traditional sense refers to an item that is more than a hundred years old. The majority of antique maps for sale today come from books or atlases and have survived due to the protection offered by the hardback covers. The first thing to determine when staring a collection or purchasing an item, is what is important to you.

Most collectors prefer to build their collections around a theme. You may decide to collect maps from one region or country, charting its development through time. Similarly you could collect maps of one particular period in time, by type i. Sea or celestial charts or by cartographer.

The collector might also want to consider the theme of cartographical misconceptions such as California as an island or Australia as Terra Australis or the Great Southern Land. The subject is so wide that any would-be-collector has almost endless possibilities to find his own little niche within the field, and thereby build a rewarding collection. Starting a collection & pricing. Pricing is based on a number of different factors, the most important of which is regional. In any series of maps the most valuable are usually the World Map and the America/North America.

The World because it is usually the most decorative and America because it has the strongest regional market. Other factors that come into play re: price is rarity, age, size, historical importance, decorative value (colour) and overall condition and quality of paper it is printed on.

As specialised dealers, we frequently work with first time map buyers who are just starting their collection. Classical Images was founded 1998 and has built an excellent reputation for supplying high quality original antiquarian maps, historical atlases, antique books and prints.

We carry an extensive inventory of antiquarian collectibles from the 15th to 19th century. Our collection typically includes rare books and decorative antique maps and prints by renowned cartographers, authors and engravers.

Specific items not listed may be sourced on request. Classical Images adheres to the Codes of Ethics outlined by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA). We are a primarily an online based enterprise, however our inventory may be viewed by appointment. This item is in the category "Antiques\Maps, Atlases & Globes\Australia/Oceania Maps".

The seller is "searching01" and is located in this country: AU. This item can be shipped worldwide.

Cartographer/Publisher: Alex J Scally
State/Territory: Western Australia
Printing Technique: Lithography
Original/Reproduction: Antique Original
Format: Atlas Map
Type: World Atlas
Year: 1886-88
Date Range: 1800-1899
Country/Region: Australia