General Map of Victoria. Inset of Port Phillip c1886.

by Picturesque Atlas Publishing Company

Large original antique map of Victoria circa 1886, printed by The Picturesque Publishing Company Co. (Ltd.) Sydney and Melbourne. This Company was established for the sole purpose of producing the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia - a wonderful illustrated record of the discovery and development of Australia and its neighbouring countries, published to commemorate 100 years since the first official European settlement in Australia at Port Jackson in 1788.

Picturesque Atlas of Australasia was published between 1886 and 1888 by The Picturesque Atlas Publishing Company, an American Company set up in Australia specifically for this publication. It was not an Atlas is the usual sense of the word, although 30 maps were included, of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Oceania, explorers’ voyages, and multiple maps of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, showing the counties, rainfalls, railways and telegraph connections. Geographical draughtsmen and cartographic engravers compiled maps of each state and the adjacent regions, and supervised their production.

The size of this map with central vertical fold, as issued, is 44 x 66cm (17.5 x 26 inches), as published.