Ornate 1850s Map of South America: A Masterpiece of Exploration & Art by Rapkin

Name: Ornate 1850s Map of South America: A Masterpiece of Exploration & Art by Rapkin
Brand: John Tallis
SKU: BG-13999-10
Price: 290 USD
Availability: InStock

$290

€260 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Maker: John Tallis
Kind: Maps
Size: 36.2 × 27.8 cm (14.3 × 10.9 in)
Condition: Good. Considering age, with vibrant engraving detail and minimal wear. Centrefold crease as issued with small split on the right side, outside the image. Study the images carefully.
Places: South America
Reference: BG-13999-10

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.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

South America, an original steel-engraved decorative map from a Tallis atlas of the 1850s, drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin and published by J. & F. Tallis of London, Edinburgh and Dublin. The imprint at the foot credits the illustrations to J. Marchant, engraved by J. Rogers, and the map to Rapkin. The old description names the source as Tallis's The History of the United States of America from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.

The continent is shown with outline color for each country, rivers and mountain ranges drawn in fine detail, and Brazil, the Guianas, Peru, Chile and the River Plate lettered across it. The border is a band of floral scrollwork, and the title "South America" stands in a scrolled cartouche at the top. Vignettes fill the margins: a condor and llamas of Peru at the left, a view of Valparaiso, a group of figures in native dress at the lower left, a scene in the tropical forest with a rope bridge at the upper right, a Brazilian province scene on the right, and a view of Rio Janeiro at the lower right.

The Tallis atlas maps with their engraved vignettes were among the most decorative maps of their day, and the pictures chosen here show the animals, peoples and ports a Victorian reader would have associated with South America.

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