Antique Map of Kent with Maidstone, Rochester and the Channel, 1885

An original antique map of Kent, 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 lower left reads "KENT", 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 whole county is shown, from London at the upper left along the Thames past Woolwich, Dartford and Gravesend to Rochester, Chatham, the Isle of Sheppey and Sheerness. Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge and Tunbridge Wells lie inland, and in the east are Canterbury, the Isle of Thanet with Margate and Ramsgate, Sandwich, Deal, Dover and Folkestone on the Straits of Dover. Romney Marsh runs out to Denge Ness in the south, and Sussex fills the lower left with Ashdown Forest, East Grinstead, Hastings and Rye, with Surrey and Croydon on the left.

The divisions are washed in blue in the west, yellow in the middle and rose in the east, and the parliamentary boroughs, including Rochester, Maidstone, Gravesend, Canterbury, Sandwich and Hythe, are picked out in crimson. The key under the title gives boundaries, railways and stations and unfinished railways, and the atlas note on station names is printed at the lower right: "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. The sheet number 22 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.