View cart John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland
John Thomson
A special limited edition numbered run of 600 was published in October 2008 by Birlinn Ltd. in
association with the National Library of Scotland.
Size: 292x225mm
Extent: 176pp with 55 large format double-page maps
Price: £150.00
ISBN: 9781841586878
IN 1832 JOHN THOMSON published the first large-scale atlas of Scotland organised by country. Not only did this provide an invaluable and accurate picture of Scotland prior to the Clearances but it also marked out this Atlas as a highly significant milestone in the history of mapping. Thomson's Atlas of Scotland was the first since Blaeu's famous publication to map the land from accurate surveys and collected information.
He announced that: '... the new country atlas of Scotland will either be derived from Actual Surveys; or where such cannot be obtained, from other authentic materials, so corrected by the Attestators, and their Assistants, as to ensure greater accuracy than is to be found in any book of the kind published in this or any other Country.'
Thomson was an atlas publisher in Edinburgh and this ambitious task was a labour of love and commitment so huge it even contributed to his bankruptcy. Yet he persevered and, with the support of friends, the atlas - begun in 1820 - was finally launched in 1832.
The Atlas contains 58 large format, double-page maps of mainland Scotland, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. Two stunningly beautiful drawings illustrate the 'Comparative heights of the principal mountains of Scotland' and 'Comparative lengths of the principal rivers of Scotland'. An Introduction explains in detail how each of the maps was prepared and a full index of places appears at the back of the book.
This facsimile edition also contains two introductory essays:
"From the Best Authenticated Sources": The Making of John Thomson's Atlas, by Chris Fleet, Deputy Curator and Paula Williams, Assistant Map Curator, National Library of Scotland.
The Atlas - Tracing the History of a Geographical and Scientific Genre, by Charles W.J Withers, Professor of Historical Geography, University of Edinburgh