Antique Map of Essex with the Thames Estuary and the North Sea, 1885

An original antique map of Essex, printed by lithography with original hand coloring, from the 1885 edition of The New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles. The title "ESSEX" is set in the North Sea at the lower right, with "REDUCED FROM THE ORDNANCE SURVEY" and "Divided into 5 mile squares" beneath it. There is no credit line for Weller on this sheet.

The county stretches from Saffron Walden, Thaxted and Dunmow in the north to the River Thames along the south, with Chelmsford near the center, Colchester, Harwich and Walton on the Naze in the northeast, and Maldon on the Blackwater. The marshy coast is drawn down past Foulness and Shoebury Ness to Southend. Ipswich and Woodbridge in Suffolk appear across the Stour at the top, the eastern edge of London with Woolwich and Greenwich at the lower left, and Gravesend, the Isle of Grain and Sheerness in Kent along the bottom.

The divisions are washed in yellow in the west, rose in the northeast and green in the south, and the parliamentary boroughs of Colchester, Maldon and Harwich are picked out in crimson. The key gives borough boundaries and railways and stations, followed by 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 is divided into five mile squares with letters and figures in the border, and the Meridian of Greenwich is marked at the lower left. The sheet number 16 is printed at the upper right.

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. Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom, left and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left and top right corners.

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