Holland Map 1851 Tallis Peasants & Boating Scene Print - Rotterdam, Dort, Amsterdam, Haarlem

John Tallis of London published this decorative map of Holland in 1851, and it was engraved for R. Montgomery Martin's Illustrated Atlas. The vignettes show Rotterdam, a group of Dutch peasants and a boating scene on the Dort. The map belongs to the Illustrated World Atlas that Tallis issued for the Great Exhibition of 1851, one of the last series of decorative world maps ever made, and the engraving is credited to John Rapkin, a skilled artisan. Tallis maps are prized for their wonderful vignettes of indigenous scenes and people, and this one adds a touch of Dutch daily life to the lines of the country. The sheet was engraved for the same Illustrated Atlas as its companions, and the strong color and detailed borders of a Tallis map give it a lively look.

John Tallis lived from 1817 to 1876 and came to London from the Midlands in the 1840s. He began his London career with a series of street views, and he later published the popular Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages, which he sold in 1861. The Tallis maps were reissued by the London Printing & Publishing Company with the original imprint intact, so the name lasted well past his own career. This map of Holland shows how Victorian Britain, then a close trading partner of the Dutch, enjoyed seeing the country through its costumes and canals.

For a collector of Victorian decorative atlas maps, a family with roots in Rotterdam or Amsterdam, or a lover of Dutch scenes, this is an appealing gift. Another copy of the same 1851 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.