Antique Map of Hertfordshire with Railways and Boroughs, Weller, 1885

An original antique map of Hertfordshire, printed by lithography with original hand coloring, from the 1885 edition of The New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles. The title at the upper left reads "HERTFORDSHIRE", 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 is washed in rose and runs from Royston, Baldock and Hitchin in the north to Barnet, Watford and Rickmansworth in the south, with Hertford, Ware, Stevenage, St. Albans, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead and Tring between them. The railways run north from London across the county in strong lines. Around it are Buckinghamshire with Aylesbury and High Wycombe on the left, Bedfordshire with Luton and Dunstable at the top, Cambridgeshire, Essex with Saffron Walden, Harlow and Epping on the right, and Middlesex with Enfield along the bottom.

The borough of Hertford is picked out in crimson. The key gives the county boundary, railways and stations, canals and the borough boundary, 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 bottom. The sheet number 20 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. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner.

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