Antique Plan of Liverpool with Albert Dock and a 1650 View, 1847
US$842
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-14487-1-23
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 Liverpool, steel engraved and published in the atlas of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The plan runs the whole line of the docks along the Mersey, with the Albert Dock newly opened, and carries the streets back through the town to the edge of the built area. Three vignettes sit on the sheet: a view of Liverpool in the year 1650, the Black Rock Lighthouse, and a plan of Liverpool in the year 1729. The lettering notes that it was reduced by permission from the Ordnance Survey. The outline and water coloring is original hand color, applied by the publisher before the sheet was bound into the volume.
It is plate number 184 of the third volume of the Society's atlas, published by Charles Knight and Company, 22 Ludgate Street, London, in 1847. Lord Brougham's Society set out to supply accurate maps at a price a clerk could afford, and the steel engraved city plans it produced between 1830 and 1847 remain the best series of town plans of their generation.
Setting a small town of 1650 and a modest plan of 1729 beside the dock system of 1847 on one sheet makes the growth of the greatest port of the Atlantic trade visible in a single glance. That comparison, and the Albert Dock arriving just in time to be drawn, gives the sheet its particular interest for Liverpool. 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.
