Antique Map of South and East Devon on the English Channel Coast, 1885

An original antique map of southern and eastern Devon, printed by lithography with original hand coloring, from the 1885 edition of The New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles. The cartouche at the lower right, set in the English Channel, reads "DEVONSHIRE" and "(SOUTH & EAST DIVISIONS)", followed by "REDUCED FROM THE ORDNANCE SURVEY" and "BY EDWD WELLER, F.R.G.S."

Launceston, Liskeard and Looe lie beyond the county boundary on the left side of the sheet, and the estuary on the western border leads down to Devonport and Plymouth. Dartmoor Forest lies in the center, its high ground shaded in hachure, with Tavistock on its western edge. To the east the sheet takes in Totnes, Dartmouth, Torquay and Tor Bay, Teignmouth, Exeter, Exmouth and Sidmouth, with Honiton and Axminster near the Dorsetshire border at the right. Bigbury Bay and the English Channel run along the south coast.

The parliamentary divisions are washed in green for the south, yellow for the east and rose for the north, and the parliamentary boroughs, among them Tavistock, Plymouth with Devonport, and Exeter, are picked out in crimson. The key lists railways and stations and railways in progress, and the cartouche 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 is divided into five mile squares with letters and figures in the border, and a scale of British Statute Miles sits below the cartouche lettering. The sheet number 13 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 corner.

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