Thomas Starling Map of Europe — Family Cabinet Atlas, Hand-Colored, 1831
$ 66.0
Description
Thomas Starling Map of Europe — Family Cabinet Atlas, Hand-Colored, 1831. The atlas carried the patronage of King William IV and Queen Adelaide, and Starling's micro-printing remains fully readable 190+ years on. Starling steel engraving: Hair-thin lines and micro-printed gazetteer text characteristic of Starling's miniature-atlas work, enabled by the shift from copper to steel plate. A steel-engraved miniature atlas plate of Europe by Thomas Starling, from Edward Bull's Family Cabinet Atlas (London, 1831–34) — Plate III, mapping post-Napoleonic Europe before the unifications of Germany and Italy. Original period hand-coloring in watercolor wash highlights political boundaries from a geopolitical snapshot that lasted barely forty years. The atlas carried the patronage of King William IV and Queen Adelaide, and Starling's micro-printing remains fully readable 190+ years on. Post-Napoleonic geography: Captures the Congress of Vienna settlement in detail — German Confederation, pre-Risorgimento Italian states, Ottoman-held Balkans, and a still-intact Kingdom of Poland. A 40-year window (1815–1866) that collectors of European political cartography specifically seek. Starling steel engraving: Hair-thin lines and micro-printed gazetteer text characteristic of Starling's miniature-atlas work, enabled by the shift from copper to steel plate. The facing-page gazetteer packs geographic data into the smallest possible compass. Original hand-coloring: Period watercolor wash applied to the political boundaries at time of sale — the premium state for 19th-century atlas leaves, commanding a consistent premium over uncolored examples. Condition: 190+ year-old wove paper with age-appropriate toning; original hand-color retains good vibrancy on the political boundaries. Margins moderate. Centerline fold from original atlas binding. For collectors of 19th-century miniature cartography, post-Napoleonic European political geography, or early Victorian reference-publishing artifacts. Included: Loose leaf only, unframed.
