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A richly annotated example of Heinrich Kiepert’s landmark map of the Ottoman Balkans, here in the 1870 second edition, updated in 1876 with newly engraved railway infrastructure, and bearing subsequent manuscript additions tracing the rival boundaries proposed under the Treaty of San Stefano and imposed by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.
Heinrich Kiepert’s General-Karte von der Europäischen Türkei was among the most authoritative and influential general maps of the Balkans in the nineteenth century, used extensively by diplomats, engineers, and military officers engaged in the Eastern Question. First published in 1853 and thoroughly revised in 1870, it draws upon an extraordinary corpus of Austrian, Russian, British, and Ottoman surveys, synthesizing them at a scale of roughly 1:1,000,000. The engraved line under the title (Eisenbahn-Nachträge 1876) indicates that the plate was reopened six years later to record the dramatic expansion of railways into Southeastern Europe.
Three detailed insets serve the practical needs of officials, travelers, and analysts: a topographical map of Montenegro with local administrative divisions; a street-level plan of Constantinople and its environs, including the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara; and a tactical diagram of the southern fortifications along the Dardanelles. These additions underscore the strategic centrality of the region, particularly as European fleets and financiers moved ever closer to the core of Ottoman power.
Provenance
To this printed foundation, a contemporary English-speaking owner has added manuscript color delineating the competing borders proposed after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. In the Adriatic, a legend in manuscript explains the scheme: Boundaries according to Treaty of Berlin (yellow) / [Ditto] San Stephano (red). The red borders reflect Russia’s maximalist settlement under the Treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878), including a greatly enlarged Bulgaria and autonomous zones in Bosnia and Montenegro. The yellow boundaries show the revised frontiers imposed four months later at the Congress of Berlin, which significantly scaled back Russian gains. The annotations allow immediate visual comparison of the ambitions and compromises at stake during one of the most consequential diplomatic realignments of the nineteenth century.
The Arrowsmiths were a cartographic dynasty which operated from the late-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth. The family business was founded by Aaron Arrowsmith (1750-1823), who was renowned for carefully prepared and meticulously updated maps, globes, and charts. He created many maps that covered multiple sheets and which were massive in total size. His spare yet exacting style was recognized around the world and mapmakers from other countries, especially the young country of the United States, sought his maps and charts as exemplars for their own work.
Aaron Arrowsmith was born in County Durham in 1750. He came to London for work around 1770, where he found employment as a surveyor for the city’s mapmakers. By 1790, he had set up his own shop which specialized in general charts. Arrowsmith had five premises in his career, most of which were located on or near Soho Square, a neighborhood the led him to rub shoulders with the likes of Joseph Banks, the naturalist, and Matthew Flinders, the hydrographer.
Through his business ties and employment at the Hydrographic Office, Arrowsmith made other important relationships with Alexander Dalrymple, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and others entities. In 1810 he became Hydrographer to the Prince of Wales and, in 1820, Hydrographer to the King.
Aaron Arrowsmith died in 1823, whereby the business and title of Hydrographer to the King passed to his sons, Aaron and Samuel, and, later, his nephew, John. Aaron Jr. (1802-1854) was a founder member of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and left the family business in 1832; instead, he enrolled at Oxford to study to become a minister. Samuel (1805-1839) joined Aaron as a partner in the business and they traded together until Aaron left for the ministry. Samuel died at age 34 in 1839; his brother presided over his funeral. The remaining stock and copper plates were bought at auction by John Arrowsmith, their cousin.
John (1790-1873) operated his own independent business after his uncle, Aaron Arrowsmith Sr., died. After 1839, John moved into the Soho premises of his uncle and cousins. John enjoyed considerable recognition in the geography and exploration community. Like Aaron Jr., John was a founder member of the RGS and would serve as its unofficial cartographer for 43 years. Several geographical features in Australia and Canada are named after him. He carried the title Hydrographer to Queen Victoria. He died in 1873 and the majority of his stock was eventually bought by Edward Stanford, who co-founded Stanford’s map shop, which is still open in Covent Garden, London today.
![[Greece & Turkey] Tabula Europae X](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/94618.jpg)
