Antique Map of Cambridgeshire with Peterborough and Huntingdon, 1885

An original antique map of Cambridgeshire, printed by lithography with original hand coloring, from the 1885 edition of The New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles. The title in the cartouche at the upper right reads "CAMBRIDGESHIRE.", with "REDUCED FROM THE ORDNANCE SURVEY." and "Divided into 5 mile squares" beneath it. Unlike some sheets in the atlas, this one carries no credit line for Weller in the cartouche.

The county fills a tall sheet, from Sutton Bridge and the label "THE WASH" at the top down to Royston, Linton and Haverhill at the foot. Wisbech and March lie in the northern fens, where the drains and droves are ruled in fine parallel lines, with Whittlesey and Thorney to the west. Ely sits in the middle of the sheet, Cambridge lower down with Newmarket to the east, and Peterborough, Huntingdon and St. Ives appear beyond the county boundary on the left. Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire are named around the edges.

The county itself is washed in a single soft gray, and the borough of Cambridge is picked out in crimson. Railways are drawn in heavy line with their stations marked, and the key explains the boundaries of counties and boroughs. The sheet is divided into five mile squares with letters and figures in the border, and a scale of British Statute Miles sits below the title. The cartouche also carries the atlas note on station names: "The official names of Railway Stations are all engraved in a special character, thus, Clayton; except where indicated by the name of the town being in bold letters and identical with the name of the Station." The sheet number 6 is printed in the margin.

The sheet comes from The New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles, the atlas of county and town maps reduced from the Ordnance Survey by Edward Weller, F.R.G.S., and published in London by G. W. Bacon and Co. The date 1885 comes from the volume the sheets were taken from; the year is not printed on the sheet, and Bacon's name does not appear on it. Edward Weller (1819 to 1884) was a London map engraver and draftsman and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Vertical fold down the center from binding. Even age toning. Handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top left corners.

This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.