Sweden, Norway & Denmark Map 1883 Letts Popular Atlas Print - Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Railways

This general and statistical map of Sweden, Norway and Denmark comes from Letts's Popular Atlas, published by Letts, Son and Company Limited of London in 1883. The atlas was a series of maps delineating the whole surface of the globe, with many special and original features and a copious index of 23,000 names. The sheet is colored, with relief shown by hachures and depths by bathymetric tints, and it measures about 34 by 42 centimeters. It shows cities, railroads, lights and lighthouses, forests and woodlands, glaciers and the other features that a traveler or student of the north might look for. It is a fine example of the careful color printing of the age.

The statistical element of the title means that the sheet was made for practical use, with the principal towns, the railway lines and the coastal lights set out so that a reader could follow a journey or a voyage. The use of tints to show the depths of the sea is a mark of the progress that cartography had made by the 1880s, and it gives the sea around Scandinavia an attractive range of blues. The map belongs to the tradition of the late-Victorian popular atlas, which put reliable information in the hands of a large audience. It also repays a close reading.

Readers of Victorian atlases, a family with roots in Sweden, Norway or Denmark, or a lover of railway and lighthouse maps will find a practical gift here. A second copy of this same 1883 sheet is also in the collection, so you can choose the example whose crops you prefer. 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 also makes a good pairing with other maps of the Nordic lands.