Antique Map of South Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Weller, 1885

An original antique map of southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 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 reads "HAMPSHIRE" and "(SOUTH DIVISION)", followed by "BY EDWD WELLER, F.R.G.S."; on this sheet the line "REDUCED FROM THE ORDNANCE SURVEY" is not lettered.

The New Forest fills the western half of the division, with Ringwood, Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Lymington and Christchurch, and Bournemouth and Poole Bay at the lower left. Southampton stands at the head of Southampton Water, and Portsmouth and its harbor, Langstone, Hayling Island and Spithead lie to the east, with Winchester and Petersfield in the north. The Isle of Wight is shown entire, with Cowes, Newport, Ryde, Sandown, Ventnor, Freshwater and The Needles, across The Solent. Chichester in Sussex appears at the right.

The division is washed in rose and the parliamentary boroughs, among them Southampton, Christchurch, Lymington, Portsmouth and Newport, are picked out in crimson. The key gives railways and stations and borough boundaries, and the atlas note on station names follows: "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 18 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. Marked 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.