Notable 19th century cartographers, map-makers & cartographic publishers

D. Appleton & Co
Founded in 1831, from the 1840’s the firm started to produce travel guide books to the United States, Canada, Mexico & Europe. These guidebooks included some early detailed city plans of North American cities.
 
John Arrowsmith (1790–1873)
English mapmaker & member of the Arrowsmith family of cartographers.  He joined his uncle Aaron in 1810 in his cartography business in London. On his uncle’s death in 1823, the business was carried on by his sons Aaron and Samuel until 1839 when John Arrowsmith took over the business. In 1834 he published his London Atlas. He was a founder of the Royal Geographical Society.
 
George Washington Bacon (1830-1922)
Bacon and Co produced a number of large format atlases of London, the British Isles and of the World under different editions and titles in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, such as "The New Large-Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles", "Commercial & Library Atlas of the British Isles" and the "New Complete Atlas of the World". Although published relatively late from a collector’s perspective, they are becoming harder to find and accordingly more collectible. His hand coloured “Large-Scale Atlas of London & Suburbs” in various editions in the early 20^th century, which depict a rapidly expanding conurbation, are increasingly sought after.
 
Karl Baedeker (1801-1859)
A German publisher whose publications set the standard for authoritative tourist guidebooks and were the Lonely Planet of their era, much cited in contemporary literature. He was way ahead of his time in understanding the importance of including reliable, quality maps within a travel guide. The guidebooks covered a number of countries and were translated into a number of languages and covered many editions. The maps show towns, villages, landmarks, railroads (railways) and other features and early City Plans. They covered Europe, the United States, Canada and parts of the Middle East & North Africa
 
John George Bartholomew (1860-1920)
A British cartographer who came from a celebrated line of mapmakers. As holder of a royal warrant he used the title "Cartographer to the King". His most enduring legacy may be the naming the continent of Antarctica, hitherto largely ignored. He introduced the use of colored contour layer maps. He was an early publisher of city street maps, cycling maps, railway timetable maps & road maps for motorists. He set out the first edition of the Times Survey Atlas of the World, published posthumously.

Charles Booth (1840-1916)
An English philanthropist and social researcher. He challenged existing statistics on poverty levels in London in his work documenting Victorian working class “Life and Labour of the People in London”, published in 3 editions between 1889-1903, which led to the founding of the state pension. A critical e feature of this study (as featured in a number of recent BBC TV documentaries such as "The Secret History of Our Streets" (2012)) were his innovative and now sought after London Poverty Maps, illustrating levels of poverty and wealth on a street by street basis.
 
George Bradshaw (1801-1853)
An English cartographer, printer and publisher best known for his development of longest published series of railway timetables. His “Continental Railway, Steam Transit &c General Guide & Handbook”, first published in 1847, was continued in various editions until 1939. The late 19^thcentury editions were notable for their detailed fold out plans of major European cities.
 
John Cary (c1754-1835)
An English cartographer who produced many important works in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. His “New and Correct English Atlas” (1787) became a standard reference work in England. He was commissioned by the Postmaster General in 1794 to survey England's roads, resulting in “Cary's New Itinerary” (1798 & 1817), which delineated the major roads in England and Wales. He produced Ordnance Survey maps up to 1805. His other major publications included: “Cary's Actual Survey of the country fifteen miles around London” (1786), maps for the 1789 & 1806 editions of “Camden's Britannia”, “Cary's Survey of the High Roads from London” (1790), “Cary's Traveller's Companion, or a delineation of the turnpike roads of England & Wales” (1790), “Cary's New Map of England and Wales with part of Scotland” (1794), “Inland Navigation; or Select Plans of the Several Navigable Canals throughout Britain” (1795), “New British Atlas” (1805), “Cary's New Universal Atlas” (1808), “Cary's English Atlas” (1809) & “New Elementary Atlas” (1813)
 
Archibald Fullarton and Co (fl 1840-70)
A prominent Scottish 19^th century publishing house, known for their gazetteers and atlases of the British Isles and of the World, and one of the last publishers to produce maps with decorative vignettes. Publications included the ”New & Comprehensive [later Parliamentary] Gazetteer of England & Wales.” (published 1834-1849), a series of fine engraved county maps which depicted the changes wrought by the Great Reform Bill which formed the basis of Britain’s modern Parliamentary Constituencies; “Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland” (1854-7),and its companion volume "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales";  “Gazetteer of the World” (1856); “Royal Illustrated Atlas”, 1864 (published in 27 parts between 1854-62) & “Hand Atlas of the World” (1870-2).
 
Victor Levasseur (1800-1870)
A French cartographer who was productive between 1838-1854. He is best known for the large, very decorative maps with his “Atlas National Illustré des 86 Départments et des Possessions De La France”, the first edition of which was printed in 1847. These maps have borders which are highly decorated with extensive vignette views of towns, cities and famous sons of the region shown in the map, as well as being rich in textual historical information. Some editions of the North America maps show Texas as an independent nation as it was briefly during the period of the Texas Republic.
 
Conrad & Victor Malte-Brun (1755-1826 & 1816-1889)
Conrad Malte-Brun was a Danish-French cartographer & geographer. Together with Edme Mentelle he produced “Géographie mathématique, physique et politique de toutes les parties du monde” (1803-1812). His major work was “Précis de Géographie Universelle ou Description de toutes les parties du monde”.  This was published in 8 volumes between 1810 and 1829, the last two of these published posthumously and completed by Huot. Victor Adolf Malte-Brun, also a cartographer & geographer, was Conrad’s son. He produced further editions of the above works after his father’s death, such as "La France Illustrée" (1884).
 
Thomas Moule (1774-1851)
An English antiquarian & map maker, he is best known for his decorative steel engraved English county maps, first published in separate issues for each county between 1830 and 1832. In c.1836 these were brought together in a single work by George Virtue & Co. “The English Counties delineated; or, a topographical description of England”. They continued to appear in Rev. James Barclay's Dictionary, “A complete & universal dictionary of the English language” into the 1840's & in other publications.
 
John Murray publishers, James & Findlay Muirhead (1853-1934 & 1860-1935)
John Murray was an English publishing house founded in 1768. It is perhaps best known for the many famous authors it has published during its history including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen, Lord Byron & Charles Darwin. However, it is also noted for its “Murray's Handbooks for Travellers” travel guide books which were published in various editions from 1836. Many of these included attractive town, city & regional plans & maps. This well known series of books covered European tourist destinations as well as its "Handbook for travellers in India, Burma & Ceylon", "Handbook for Travellers in Japan", Russia, Egypt, Algeria & Turkey.  The rights to Murray’s Handbooks were sold by John Murray IV to Edward Stanford in 1891. In turn he sold them to James & Findlay Muirhead in 1915 (who until the advent of the First World War had edited the English versions of the famous Baedeker travel guides – which along with Murray’s handbooks were perhaps the best known exponents of the great 19^th century guidebook tradition). From this date they were marketed as the “Blue Guides” in English. Following an agreement in 1917 with the French publisher Hachette, they were co-published in both English and French, with the latter known as the “Guides Bleus”, a relationship which persisted until 1935.
 
George Philip & Son
George Philip (1800–1882) and his son, also George (1823–1902) were cartographers and map publishers known for their general and school atlases of the world and British Isles, including county atlases. Commencing in 1834, he initially produced hand coloured copperplate maps.  By 1862 he was using lithographic machinery. Atlases included "Philip's Atlas of Physical Geography" (1853), "Philip's Family Atlas of Physical, General & Classical Geography" (1868), "Philip's Handy Atlas of the Counties of England" (various editions, c1876), "Philip's Handy Atlas of General Geography" (1888), "Asprey's Atlas of the World" (1912)
 
Royal Geographical Society
Founded in 1830 under the name Geographical Society of London as an institution to promote the 'advancement of geographical science', it later became known as The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and was granted its Royal Charter under Queen Victoria in 1859. In the 19^th century the RGS was closely associated with British Imperial development especially in Africa, south & central Asia & the polar regions, and its history is interlinked with that of British exploration & discovery. The society was a key supporter of many famous explorers and expeditions, including those of Darwin, Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt and Hillary. Until 1914, RGS-sponsored expeditions were frequently front page news. The Society published its first journal in 1831 and from 1855 accounts of expeditions were published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society". From 1893 this was replaced by “The Geographical Journal”. Information, maps, charts and knowledge gathered on such expeditions, which make up its now unique geographical collection, were printed within these publications.
 
Edward Stanford (1827-1904)
Came to prominence as a map publisher in 1862 with the publication of his Library Map of London. Well known as a late 19^th century map publisher.  It was merged into George Philip & Son in 1947, but still exists today as a London map retailer.
 
Adolf Stieler (1775–1836)
Stieler was a German cartographer whose Handatlas, formally titled "Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude"  (Handy atlas of all parts of the world and of the universe),  first published published in 1817, was the leading German world atlas from  the 1870’s until 1944. Covering 10 editions, it was not until the sixth edition (1871-75), that the atlas attained the technical level and the unsurpassed relief that it is prized for.  The atlas was printed using copperplates with hand colouring as late as its eight edition (1881-1891). The ninth and tenth editions were also issued in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
 
John Tallis (1817-1876)
An English cartographic publisher whose eponymous business, John Tallis and Company, published atlases & topographical prints between c1838-1851. He is best known for his “Illustrated Atlas, and Modern History of the World, Geographical, Political, Commercial & Statistical”, published in 1851. The attractive maps therein are prized by collectors for their decorative borders and vignette views.
 
Ward Lock & Co
Ebenezer Ward and George Lock started a publishing business in 1852 which became Ward Lock & Co. The company was known for its Red Guides, publication of which continued into the late 20^th century, which contained maps and plans of tourist areas, towns, cities and resorts.
 
Alexandre Vuillemin (1812-1880)
A well know French cartographer who produced a number of atlases, his maps are noteworthy for the extensive use of vignette views of cities & people. Some of his atlases continued in multiple editions with variations continuing to be published after his death. His publications included his “Atlas Universel” (1839, 1847 & 1871), “Atlas de Géographie Ancienne et Moderne à destination des Pensionnats” (1843), “Atlas NationalI Illustré de la France” (1845), “Atlas du Cosmos” (1867), “Atlas Topographique de la France” (1873), “Atlas de Géographie Contemporaine” (1875), “La France et ses Colonies: Atlas illustré” (1858 and 1870).