Antique Hobson Fox Hunting Map of Essex, Essex Union Hunt, circa 1870

About this sheet

From Hobson's Fox-Hunting Atlas comes this antique fox hunting map of Essex, engraved by J. and C. Walker circa 1870 and colored by hand to show six hunt countries. East Essex lies in orange through the north around Colchester and Sudbury; Essex and Suffolk in pink at the extreme north-east corner near Harwich; Puckeridge in green along the western edge toward Bishop's Stortford; Essex itself, lettered in blue, across the broad central belt; Essex Union in yellow through the south-east around Maldon and the Blackwater estuary; and South Essex in pink along the Thames-side parishes in the south.

The Essex coast, with its many creeks, the Colne, the Blackwater, the Crouch and the Thames estuary itself, is rendered in careful detail, the marshland distinguished from firm ground. The cartouche at upper right carries the county name, the Walker authorship line, scale bar and statistical note, and a large reference table at lower right keys the twenty hundreds of Essex together with the boroughs of Colchester, Maldon and Harwich and the polling places for the northern and southern divisions. The plate is numbered 12.

Engraved on steel by J. and C. Walker of London, the plate was made for Hobson's Fox-Hunting Atlas, compiled by William Colling Hobson and published by Longman and Company of Paternoster Row. The work was first issued around 1850 and reissued into the 1870s, and this sheet is from the edition of circa 1870, with the hunt boundaries in original outline hand color and the places of meeting of the foxhounds marked, together with roads, railways, canals and parks. Six named countries, more than on most plates in the series, reflect a county close enough to London to support a dense network of subscription and private packs.

As an original atlas sheet, suitable for framing, this antique fox hunting map of Essex makes a fine piece for a hunting family, a collector of the county or anyone with ties to the place.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light age toning, a central fold and a few small marks in the margins. Please review the images for further condition details.

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.