Antique County Map of Cornwall circa 1884

AN ORIGINAL MAP CORNWALL CIRCA 1884
This original colour lithographed map was published in circa 1884 by Letts, Son & Co. It contains much information, not least the population by census return of 1881. The railways are shown in red, surprising these days just how many there were nearly 140 years ago and a pity some of them are not there now. Someone in the past has close trimmed them and we have dissected the map as travelling maps of old and laid it on cloth to strengthen the paper, many maps of the period are now very brittle and can crack and tear very easily. We have made the case covered in marbled paper. See republished maps for our re-issued version of this map in various sizes.

The business of Letts, Son & Co was started by John Letts who was a printer and bookbinder in the early 1800’s. He published the first recognized commercial diary in 1816. Thomas, John Letts son, took over the business in 1835 and the company published a range of diaries, calendars, ledgers etc. Later John Letts was joined by his son Charles and to expand the business they raised capital and the company became Letts, Son and Co. In 1884 they published their county maps as shown here but by now the company had lost its way and the expense of publishing these maps was probably the last straw, it went into liquidation in 1885. From the ashes Charles formed Charles Letts & Co and the company continued successfully into the 21st century, being taken over in 2001 by Filofax.

Size 16 x 13 (430 x 355 mm approx)