1849 Meyer Map of the British Isles (Great Britain and Ireland)

This is a fine map of Great Britain and Ireland or the British Isles by Joseph Meyer dating to 1849. It includes England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and covers from the Shetland Islands to the English Channel. This map notes towns, rivers, railways, mountains, canals, and various other important topographical details. Elevation throughout is rendered by hachure and political and regional territories are color coded. An inset of London and environs is included in the top left quadrant of the map.

As this map was being printed, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland had already amalgamated into a single political entity. England and Scotland were in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. Though England and Scotland flourished throughout the 19th century, Ireland suffered a series of famines, the worst being the Great Irish Famine, which lasted from 1845 – 1849 and killed about a million people.

> This map was issued as plate no. 32 in Meyer's Zeitung Atlas. Although all the maps in this atlas are not individually dated, the title page and maps were often updated while the imprint with the date was not, causing confusion to the exact date for some of the maps. Moreover some maps in the atlas were taped in at a later date as an update to the atlas. We have dated the maps in this collection to the best of our ability.