Netherlands Map 1828 Sidney Hall Elephant Folio Atlas Print - Amsterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam

Sidney Hall engraved this map of the Netherlands, published in London in February 1828 by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green of Paternoster Row. It comes from A New General Atlas, with the divisions and boundaries carefully colored, constructed entirely from new drawings. The sheet measures 52 by 41 centimeters, is numbered XIV, and carries internal boundaries colored by hand, with relief shown in hachures. It also marks battle sites. The atlas holds 53 maps and is presented in two large elephant folio volumes with the maps unfolded, bound in three-quarter leather and marbled boards with Hall's Atlas stamped in gilt. Hall was one of the leading English engravers of his day, and the catalog notes that his maps of the United States, Mexico and British North America were declared up to date and made good use of recent surveys.

The maps in the atlas are dated variously from 1827 to 1830, with the title page dated 1830, which suggests that it was first issued in parts. The catalog calls the maps graphically very striking and beautiful, and notes that Hall prepared a revised edition in the 1850s. In 1828 the Kingdom of the Netherlands still held both its northern and southern provinces, and the battle sites marked on the sheet recall the wars that had decided their fate only a few years before. A map on this scale lets the eye move across towns, roads and waterways, and the large sheet gives the country real presence on a wall.

Any collector of English atlas cartography, a family with roots in the Low Countries, or a reader of Napoleonic history will find a distinctive gift here. TheMapVault's Greenleaf map of 1840 shows the divided countries in a smaller American format, whereas this 1828 Hall sheet is a large English engraving. 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.