Fantastic richly illustrated map of China & Birmah (Burma, today Myanmar)drawn and engraved by J Rapkin with illustrations drawn by A.H Wray and engraved by J.B Allen. 6 beautifully illustrated scenes of Chinese life as seen through Western eyes including "British Factories in Canton", the famous Porcelain Pagoda and a view of Hong Kong. c.1851 J Tallis, London. 27cm x 37xm.

Very good condition, colours are bright, reverse is blank, has accompanying 2 page written description of the "Empire of China".

This map was originally engraved for R. Montgomery Martin's Illustrated Atlas. Tallis was one of the last great decorative map makers, and his maps are prized for the wonderful vignettes of indigenous scenes, people, and artefacts that they show.

John Tallis (1817-1876) was a British map publisher. Born in the Midlands, Tallis came to London in the 1840s. Tallis began his London career with a series of remarkable London street views. He began a partnership with a Frederick Tallis, possibly his brother, but their collaboration ended in 1849. For the Great Exhibition of 1851, Tallis published the Illustrated World Atlas, one of the last series of decorative world maps ever produced. The maps were engraved by John Rapkin, a skilled artisan. The maps were later reissued by the London Printing & Publishing Company, who left the Tallis imprint intact, thus ensuring his enduring fame. In 1858, he began publication of the popular Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages, selling it in 1861 (it ceased publication in 1863).

Provenance: Malby Maps, London.