A fine set of Arrowsmith’s wall maps of the world and the four continents.

The maps are typical of Arrowsmith’s work. All accumulated myth, misconception, and guesswork are stripped away making for a sparse and elegant style with decorative flourishes left for the borders. The maps also highlight Arrowsmith’s use of the most up-to-date information, from the inclusion of Earl Macartney’s voyage to China in 1793, and notes from Bruce’s ‘Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile…’ (1790), to the recording of all three of Captain Cook’s Voyages upon his map of the world.

Aaron Arrowsmith (1750-1823) was the finest cartographer of his generation. Although he received little formal education it is believed that he was taught some mathematical instruction by William Emerson, an author of several books on the application of mathematics to the area of cartography. Around 1770, Arrowsmith moved to London to seek employment. It is believed that he worked for William Faden before joining John Cary Sr. in the early 1780s. There he provided the measurements for John Cary’s early publication detailing the roads from London to Falmouth, his first signed work. Arrowsmith set up on his own n 1790 and over the next thirty years produced some of the most beautiful and elegant maps of the era.