Giclee, John Tallis & Company, John Rapkin, Victoria or Port Phillip, 1851-54

Conservation Quality Giclee of the last of the decorative edged map folios by John Tallis & Company, The Illustrated Atlas of Modern History of the World, originally published in London, 1851-1854.

Supplied with a  Limited Edition certificate /300.

John Tallis & Company

To collectors of maps, the name Tallis is a venerable one. It is associated with a pinnacle in decorative cartography world-wide. The maps he produced represent the end of an era in the production of grand decorative atlases. The Tallis trademark is the use of small vignettes, or illustrations depicting foreign scenes which are sensitively arranged within the cartography. It is for this reason we bring you these archival giclees. The original cartography was both drawn and engraved by John Rapkin. His source information for these maps was a collation from two sources: map publishers paid access to information concerning newly charted coasts-lines, and they also used information previously published by others.

 Tallis & Company employed various artists throughout the years to employ their trademark vignettes. The idea was to supply illustrations to satiate the great desire for foreign exotica, here supplied by the kangaroos and the unfamiliar indigenous inhabitants. The viewer was also reassured by familiar aspects, a view of the city of Melbourne and the Adelaide River landscape. These artists trained in the topographical tradition from provincial areas. As was the trend in the 1820’s and 1830’s, they came to London to apprentice themselves to a master engraver. Few, if any, of these talented people would ever travel to the Antipodes, so their designs were based on written records and preserved specimens in the Zoological collections. The Kangaroo seems a little unsure of himself, especially as the tail still looks like that of a domestic dog. This seems to have been an artist's conundrum since the attempt made by George Stubbs in 1772.