First issue of Wyld's iconic map of Australia. In this state, there is no inset map of Australia, but there is one of Van Diemens Land; and only the counties around Sydney are shown.

The mapmaker
James Wyld (1812-1887) was "the most important mapmaker producing maps of London in the year of the Great Exhibition". Wyld was a highly successful publisher, MP for Bodmin, and an active figure in public life. He promoted the development of the British Library and campaigned for the Public Libraries and Museums Bill, accusing its agricultural opponents of trying to make the poor drink instead of read in order to keep malt consumption high; although he did oppose the introduction of the Ordnance Survey on behalf of private surveyors. Like his father, he was made Geographer to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1836. He built his business on his ability to produce maps quickly in reaction to new discoveries and information: Punch remarked drily that if a country were discovered in the centre of the earth then Wyld would have a new map out "as soon as it is discovered, if not before".