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Description

Rare proof copy (lacking title) of Tallis' map of China & Birmah, with decorative vignettes showing British Factories in Canton, a birdseye view of Hong Kong, Chineses Soldiers, and two other decorative vignettes.

This proof state pre-dates the addition of the titles to he vignettes. The cartographic content in the west is also unfinished and there are some other minor differences.

The finished example of the map is shown here: /gallery/detail/37204

This is the first time we have ever seen this proof state.

Condition Description
Proof copy on thick paper.
John Tallis Biography

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).