England with its Canals and Railways, Antique Map, Charles Knight, 1845
US$492
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1845
Mapmaker / artist
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, London; engraved by John and Charles Walker
Publisher
Charles Knight and Company, 22 Ludgate Street, London
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
43.5 × 35 cm (17.1 × 13.8 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14487-2-9
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 overall age toning, with the paper darker along the right and top edges, scattered foxing in the margins and handling wear to the top left and bottom right corners. The printed image itself is clean.
About this sheet
This antique transport map of England and Wales, published in 1845, is drawn for one purpose: to show the inland navigations and the new railways together on a single sheet. A key beneath the title gives canals as a thin black line and railways as a bold red one, and the two networks are traced across the country, the canals dense through the Midlands and the north west, the railways running out from London to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol and Southampton. County boundaries are picked out in hand applied yellow outline, the coast is finely engraved, and the Thames, the Severn, the Trent, the Mersey and the Humber are named. Towns are marked by size, and the Welsh and Pennine hills are given in light hachure so that the lines can be read against the ground they cross. The imprint names Charles Knight and Company and the engraving is signed by John and Charles Walker.
The plate comes from Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in the new edition corrected to the present time that Charles Knight and Company published at 22 Ludgate Street, London, in 1845, whose first volume covers Europe. The Society was founded in 1826 by Henry Brougham and his circle to publish useful knowledge at a low price. Its maps were issued in parts from 1829, first by Baldwin and Cradock, from 1842 by Chapman and Hall and then by Charles Knight, and the series grew to about two hundred maps. Most of them were engraved on steel by John and Charles Walker, and the outline color was applied by hand.
The imprint at the foot names Charles Knight and Company of 22 Ludgate Street, London.
Light overall age toning, with the paper darker along the right and top edges, scattered foxing in the margins and handling wear to the top left and bottom right corners. The printed image itself is clean.
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.
