Antique Map of Oxfordshire with Banbury, Abingdon and Wantage, 1885

This is an original antique map of Oxfordshire, printed by lithography with original hand coloring and dated 1885 by the atlas it comes from. The title in the lower left reads "OXFORDSHIRE.", followed by "REDUCED FROM THE ORDNANCE SURVEY." and "Divided into 5 mile squares", with the scale "British Statute Miles 69.1 = 1 Degree." and a key to boundaries, boroughs, railways and canals.

The county runs down the sheet from the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire borders to the Thames, washed by hand in rose. Crimson borough washes mark Banbury at the top, Woodstock and Oxford in the middle, and Wallingford on the Thames. Chipping Norton, Witney, Burford, Bicester, Thame, Watlington and Henley upon Thames are lettered, and the Chiltern country of the southeast is modeled in hachure down to the river at Henley and Caversham. Below the county the Berkshire side is left uncolored, with Faringdon, Abingdon, Wantage and Reading and the line of the Great Western Railway. Warwickshire is lettered at the upper left with Stratford upon Avon, Northamptonshire at the top with Northampton and Towcester, Buckinghamshire down the right with Buckingham and Aylesbury, and part of Gloucestershire along the left edge. The sheet is divided into five mile squares with letters and figures in the border.

No maker's name is lettered on this sheet. A printed note explains that "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 "34" is printed sideways in the lower right corner.

It comes from The New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles, published in London by G. W. Bacon and Co., and is dated 1885 by the volume it was taken from; no date is printed on the sheet itself. 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 top left corner.

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