COLLECTION NAME:
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Record
Author:
Arrowsmith, Aaron
Date:
1821
Short Title:
Sheet 7: Improved Map of India.
Publisher:
A. Arrowsmith
Publisher Location:
London
Type:
Case Map
Obj Height cm:
66
Obj Width cm:
98
Scale 1:
1,013,760
Country:
India
Full Title:
(Sheet 7 to) To The Honble. the Court of Directors of the East India Company This Improved Map of India Compiled From all the Latest & most Authentic Materials Is Respectfully Dedicated by their most Obedient & most Humble Servant A. Arrowsmith. Additions to 1820, 21.
List No:
10499.005
Series No:
5
Publication Author:
Arrowsmith, Aaron
Pub Date:
1821
Pub Title:
To The Honble. the Court of Directors of the East India Company This Improved Map of India Compiled From all the Latest & most Authentic Materials Is Respectfully Dedicated by their most Obedient & most Humble Servant A. Arrowsmith. Additions to 1820, 21.
Pub Note:
"Rare (unrecorded?) 1821 state of Aaron Arrowsmith's massive nine-sheet map of India, first published in London in 1816. Arrowsmith's Improved Map of India was the greatest map of India published from information predating the Great Trigonometrical Survey (1802-1921). An 1876 catalog of maps of India elaborates the context of the map: "As these special maps accumulated the want of a new general map of India soon began to be felt, to supersede those of D'Anville and Rennell. In 1816, Aaron Arrowsmith published his Map of India in nine sheets, on a scale of sixteen miles to an inch, which was the last great general map based on route surveys. His subsequent Atlas of South India, published in 1822, was based upon the trigonometrical surveys of Colonel Lambton, filled in by the officers of the Madras Institute. (Maps of India, page 270)" As noted by Arrowsmith in the "Note": "For the great additions and improvements in this republication of the Map of India I have to express my grateful thanks for the great assitance I have received _ To His Grace the Duke of Wellington for valuable Materials collected during his Campaign in India, To Col. Allan, Gen'l Kyd, Sir John Malcolm, Sir James Macintosch, Dr. Buchanan, Mr.Sydenham, but chiefly to the Honble. the Court of Directors for their liberally permitting me the use of the truly valuable Map of Mysore by Col. Colin Mackenzie Surveyor General of India." Google Arts & Culture's Digitization of the Kalkriti Collection says of the large Arrowsmith India: "This gargantuan map occupies a special place in the history of the cartography of India, in that it is both a great technical achievement and a monumental object of profound political symbolism. Arrowsmith’s map is by far the largest, most accurate and most detailed general map of India made up to the time. It represents the apex of the Enlightenment Era Cartography of the subcontinent and is one of the finest maps of any subject produced during the early 19th Century... Arrowsmith’s map is a composite of a vast variety of carefully selected antecedents, so numerous they cannot possibly be covered here. However, the most authoritative sources available to Arrowsmith were the road route surveys done by military surveyors, either as part of general civilian mapping commissioned by the EIC (such as James Rennell’s maps of Bengal, Bihar and Oudh) or surveys tracking military movement during campaigns. "(Google Arts & Culture / Kalakriti Archives) Arrowsmith's large map of India followed his first separate map of India by 12 years and was a monumental production. This updated version includes significant updates, most notable in the northwest, the region around the Gulf of Cambay, the coastline and interior region west and southwest of the Mouth of the Ganges and in the inset map of the Punjab. In addition to this 1821 state, we note states of the map dated 1816, 1820 and 1822. The 1821 state of the map is apparently very rare. We located no other examples in OCLC, AMPR or RareBookHub." (Ruderman 2019)
Pub List No:
10499.000
Pub Type:
Case Map
Pub Height cm:
264
Pub Width cm:
246
Image No:
10499005.jp2
Authors:
Arrowsmith, Aaron
Sheet 7: Improved Map of India.
