Antique Map of the Russian Empire with Russian America, circa 1860

This is an original antique engraved map, colored by hand, from Fullarton's Companion Atlas to the Gazetteer of the World. The title, set inside a circle drawn around the North Pole at the top center, reads "RUSSIAN EMPIRE ACCORDING TO KIEPERT & OTHERS". The map covers European Russia from Prussia, Austria and Turkey in the west, the whole of Siberia, Central Asia, Mongolia, northern China, Korea and Japan, and across the Bering Strait to northwestern America. Borders and regions are washed in color.

On the right of the sheet the American side is lettered "RUSSIAN AMERICA", with "BRITISH AMERICA" beyond a line marked "Boundary Settled 1825", and the strait between the continents is named "BHERING STRAIT". A small inset at the upper right, titled "Continuation of the Coast on same scale.", shows "NEW NORFOLK", "SITKA or Baranov I." and "New Archangel". Across the center runs "Great Sandy Desert called Gobi or Shamo", with "MONGOLIA", "MANTCHOORIA" and "PEKING" to the south and east. Inside the title circle are three scale bars: "Geographical Miles 60 = One Degree", "English Miles 69 = One Degree" and "Russian Versts 104 = One Degree".

The title names the authority, "ACCORDING TO KIEPERT & OTHERS", and the compiler, "BY G.H. SWANSTON EDINR." Below the bottom border at the lower right is the engraver's line "Engraved by G.H. Swanston, Edinburgh.", and the imprint in the center reads "A. FULLARTON & Co. EDINBURGH. LONDON & DUBLIN."

The Companion Atlas to the Gazetteer of the World was published by A. Fullarton and Co. of London, Edinburgh and Dublin and issued to subscribers in parts. The original printed wrapper of Part 7 survives with these maps; it bills forty-three maps, names G. H. Swanston as engraver and is marked "Colored Copy". Russian America, lettered across Alaska on this sheet, was sold by Russia to the United States in 1867.

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