Sweden, Norway & Denmark Map 1860 SDUK Print - Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Bergen

This striking map of Scandinavia, showing Sweden, Norway and Denmark, comes from the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, known as the SDUK, and was published in London around 1860. The Society produced inexpensive maps to encourage their wide use in education, and its sheets are known for their clear drawing and their careful engraving. This one gathers the three northern kingdoms on one page, so it serves as a single reference for the lands of the north, with its coasts, borders and principal towns set out in the plain and orderly style of the Society. It is a sheet that rewards a long look at the shape of the three kingdoms and at the sea that joins them.

The Society's maps were issued in parts over several years and were then bound as sets, and they reached an audience far wider than that of the costly atlases of earlier ages. A map of Scandinavia of this kind was meant for schools, libraries and the new class of readers who wanted to follow the news of the kingdoms of Europe. Its value to a collector lies in its clarity and in its plain good looks, which make it easy to place in a modern interior. It is a reliable and attractive view of the north in the mid-Victorian age.

Anyone who prizes Victorian educational maps, a family with roots in Sweden, Norway or Denmark, or anyone who likes a plain and clear map will find a useful gift here. TheMapVault's Tallis map of Sweden and Norway is full of scenes, whereas this SDUK sheet keeps to the geography. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print. It would suit a study, a hall or a library.