The maps from The Illustrated Atlas were first published in serial form to a target audience that led insular lives due to the expense and hardship of travel. All that changed as the progress of the nineteenth century brought swift and dramatic changes in public awareness of far away places. Tallis' maps no doubt played an important role in this dramatic awakening. These maps not only provided up-to-date geographical knowledge, but also used vignette views within the map's design to show the native people and their occupations, cities and points of interest. The maps hark back to a cartographic tradition from the Dutch mapmakers of the seventeenth century with finely engraved decorative borders. The maps were drawn and engraved by John Rapkin with views drawn and engraved by a number of prominent artists. The maps were issued as a complete volume from 1851 until about 1865. Some of the maps were also published in other history books published by Tallis including British Colonies and, without the vignettes, in geographical dictionaries and encyclopedias until about 1880.

This impressive map of Scotland features excellent detail of the counties, towns and cities, and topography. An inset in the upper right corner zeroes in on the Shetland Islands. Six vignettes drawn and engraved by J. Rogers surround the map, depicting the city of Edinburgh, men in the midst of deer stalking, an intense game of shinty, Holyrood House, and monuments to two of the nation's most important writers, the poet Robert Burns and man of letters Sir Walter Scott. Enclosed in an elegant border. The map itself was drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin.

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Condition: B+

Original outline color with light toning and faint scattered foxing.