Caermarthenshire county map by J. Archer. Antique map c1854.

by Archer, Joshua

Antique Map of beautiful County of Caemarthenshire in south-west Wales circa 1854 by J. Archer, with County Towns, Market Towns, Villages, Hamlets, Seats & Parks, Turnpike Roads, Cross Roads, Rail Roads, Stations, Rivers & Watercourses, Woods & Plantations, Polling Places, Boundary of Buroughs, Hundreds and County, and Distances from London.

Drawn and Engraved by Joshua Archer on steel engraved plate, with pen outlining of boroughs, hundreds, and county. Printed on machine-made paper and published for “Curiosities of Great Britain: England & Wales Delineated, Historical, Entertaining & Commerical” by antiquarian Thomas Dugdale, assisted by civil engineer William Burnett, and published circa 1854 by L. Tallis – after the addition of the railways. Perhaps the most informative of all early maps, Archer’s maps were designed to be used, as opposed to merely studied. Their content includes communications by canals, railways and coach routes. Market towns, and important buildings in each community include religious buildings such as priories, abbeys and churches. Ancient administrative divisions within the counties are usually marked as ‘hundreds’. J. Archer of Pentonville, London, specialized in the engraving of simple county maps, and flourished as a cartographer, engraver, and printer between 1833 and 1866.

Size of map, as published, 7 x 9 inches or 18 x 23cm.