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HARVEY, William : Geographical Fun: Humorous Outlines of Various Countries

Hodder and Stoughton, London, [1869]

Quarto (285 x 235 mm.), contemporary red cloth hardboard binding, gilt. With embossed title and pasted on map of the Prussian Empire, light wear. With half title, Introduction, Contents, 12 chromolithographic anthropomorphic caricature maps and 2 leaves of publishers adverts. Contents loose as is often the case, otherwise a nice example.

An atlas of caricature maps reflecting the perspective of a Victorian Britain facing the likes of Garibaldi and Bismark in Europe. The author William Harvey (1796-1873) used the pseudonym 'Aleph'. He was a doctor and active journalist for the City Press who wrote on London and the author of London Scenes and London People published in 1863. In his introduction he writes how the maps were drawn by a fifteen year old girl for the amusement of her sick brother. Her identity has since been identified as Lillian Lancaster, born Eliza Jane Lancaster in 1852 (d.1939) in London. She most likely met Dr. William Harvey through her family in Islington. She went on to the stage as a pantomime artist, comedy actress and singer. The idea apparently came from an earlier drawing of England represented by Punch riding on a dolphin. Their intent was not just entertainment but also educational as the introduction states ‘no history no journal can be understood without acknowledge of maps, and good services is done when we make such information more easy and agreeable’. The date of issue is derived from the four page advert bound at the end which includes two items referring to the year 1869. Provenance: private English collection. Barron http://barronmaps.com/lilian-lancaster-1852-1939/; Slowther, Catherine ‘The Map Collector’ no. 16 pp. 48-50.

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