Antique Plan of Warsaw with the Vistula and Praga, 1847
€ 840
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1847
Mapmaker / artist
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
Publisher
Charles Knight and Co., 22 Ludgate Street, London
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
35 × 43 cm (13.8 × 16.9 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14487-1-48
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.
About this sheet
This is an original antique city plan of Warsaw, steel engraved and published in the atlas of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The plan shows the city on the high west bank of the Vistula, with the Royal Castle and the old town at the north, the Saxon and Krasinski gardens behind, and the suburb of Praga on the flat east bank. A note marks the boundary of the city in the year 1762 in a separate color, the field at Wola where the kings of Poland were elected is named, and the lettering records that Praga was burnt in 1794 and 1831. A band of elevations compares the principal buildings. The outline and water coloring is original hand color, applied by the publisher before the sheet was bound into the volume.
The sheet is plate number 212 in the third volume of the Society's atlas, Plans of Cities, Stars and Index to Places, published in London by Charles Knight at 22 Ludgate Street in 1847. The Society issued its maps in parts from 1829 onward, and this collected edition was lettered as a new edition corrected to the present time, which is why individual plates still carry their own earlier dates. The plate is lettered as drawn by W. B. Clarke.
Warsaw at this date was the capital of a kingdom held by the Russian tsar, sixteen years after the November Rising had ended with the storming of Praga, and the plan records both burnings in its own lettering. Much of the old town shown here was destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt from records like this one, which gives the sheet real documentary value. Framed simply in dark wood or a plain gilt frame it suits a study, a hallway or a dining room, and it is a natural gift for anyone with a tie to the place.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.
This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
