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1909 Britsh War Office Map of Beijing (Peking), Payment 2 of 2
Beijing-ordnance-1909$750.00
Title
Peking and Environs From the German Staff Map of 1907 with additions.
1909 (dated) 35.5 x 27.5 in (90.17 x 69.85 cm) 1 : 25000
1909 (dated) 35.5 x 27.5 in (90.17 x 69.85 cm) 1 : 25000
Description
This is an extremely rare 1909 British map of Beijing or Peking China drawn prepared by the British Ordnance Survey Office Southampton for the War Office. Cartographically the map is based upon a 1907 German map published in Berlin entitled Peking und Umgebung. This map was created during the period of occupation following the suppression of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion by the Eight Nation Alliance (which included England, the United States, and Germany, among others). While the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion was marked by rapacious looting and violent reprisals, it also produced detailed survey work, such as the present map, in anticipation of urban management needs and infrastructure development.
In the present example, Chinese characters have been added in manuscript for each English transliterated location name – more properly reflecting the German source map which, unlike the British edition, as here, had Chinese characters printed on the map. In addition, a note in the upper right identified 'Sig. G. F. Hampton, British Legation Guard, Peking China' as a former owner of the piece. A stamp in the upper left reads 'Commanding Royal Engineer, North China Command, No. P. 22.'
The only other example we have been able to isolate is in the British Library at S. Pancras. An exceptional rarity. Chart no. 2417.
In the present example, Chinese characters have been added in manuscript for each English transliterated location name – more properly reflecting the German source map which, unlike the British edition, as here, had Chinese characters printed on the map. In addition, a note in the upper right identified 'Sig. G. F. Hampton, British Legation Guard, Peking China' as a former owner of the piece. A stamp in the upper left reads 'Commanding Royal Engineer, North China Command, No. P. 22.'
The only other example we have been able to isolate is in the British Library at S. Pancras. An exceptional rarity. Chart no. 2417.
Cartographer
The British Admiralty Office (1795 - Present) or the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office refers to the Branch of the English government that is responsible for the command of the British Navy. In 1795 King George III created the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, known in short as the U.K.H.O., to provide top notch nautical charts to the vast Royal Navy. Prior the founding of the Admiralty the surveying and creation of nautical charts was primarily a commercial venture wherein the cartographer himself, more of than not, actually financed the printing of his own material. The great navigator Cook himself is known to have scrambled for funds to publish his own seminal charts - the most important and advanced of the period. The system of privately funded nautical mapping and publishing left vast portions of the world uncharted and many excellent charts unpublished. King George III, responding significant loss in trade revenue related to shipwrecks and delay due to poor charts, recognized the need for an institutionalized government sponsored cartographic agency - the Admiralty. The first head of the Admiralty, a position known as Hydrographer, was the important cartographer Alexander Dalrymple. Dalrymple started by organizing and cataloging obtainable charts before initiating the laborious process of updating them and filling in the blanks. The first official Admiralty Chart appeared in 1800 and detailed Quiberon Bay in Brittany. By 1808 the position of Hydrographer fell to Captain Thomas Hurd. Hurd advocated the sale of Admiralty charts to the general public and, by the time he retired in 1829, had issued and published some 736 charts. Stewardship of the organization then passed to Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort. It was under Beaufort's administration that the Admiralty truly developed as a "chart making" as opposed to a "chart cataloging" institution. Beaufort held his post from 1829 to 1854. In his 25 years at the Admiralty Beaufort created nearly 1500 new charts and sponsored countless surveying and scientific expeditions - including the 1831 to 1836 voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle. By 1855 the Admiralty's chart catalog listed some 1,981 charts. More by this mapmaker...
Condition
Average. Map exhibits some soiling and edge wear. Repair in lower right corner. Backed on archival tissue. A few stamps and manuscript notes in margins. Additional manuscript identification of place names in Chinese.
References
OCLC 497482649.