India

1882

Lithograph on paper

Upper Sheet
Print size: 13.75 x 20.5 in (35 x 52 cm)
Sheet size: 14.5 x 21.75 in (37 x 55 cm)
Folded: 14.5 x 12 in (37 x 30.5 cm)
Lower Sheet
Print size: 14.25 x 19.75 in (36.5 x 50 cm)
Sheet size: 14.75 x 21.5 in (37.5 x 54.5 cm)
Folded: 14.5 x 12 in (37 x 30.5 cm)
Two large folio sheets (forming a matched set of colour-printed lithographic maps on paper)

British India—A Matched Pair of Large-Format Raj Maps Showing Presidencies, Native States, and Dependencies (1882)

This matched two-sheet map set of India, published by Blackie & Son in 1882, presents a comprehensive late-Victorian administrative and political portrait of the British Raj at the height of imperial consolidation. Designed as both a geographic and didactic instrument, the maps integrate detailed territorial delineation with a printed explanatory table enumerating the divisions of British India and its dependencies, including presidencies, native states, and tributary regions.

The maps have a printed statistical and administrative key listing divisions of British India and its dependencies. Colour-coded delineation of British territories, princely states, and tributary regions. Detailed railway network, administrative boundaries, and civil stations. Inclusion of Burma and Southeast Asia inset mapping. Emphasis on the presidencies of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. Fine Victorian engraving and typographic clarity.

Executed in crisp lithographic linework and heightened with original colour, the sheets distinguish British-ruled territories, independent princely states, and protectorates, offering a visually legible framework for understanding colonial governance. The railway network is prominently traced, underscoring the infrastructural spine of imperial control, military logistics, and commercial circulation across the subcontinent. Major urban centres, civil stations, and provincial boundaries are rendered with high cartographic density, reflecting the period’s administrative precision.

The geographic scope extends beyond the Indian mainland to incorporate Burma and Southeast Asia, situating India within a broader imperial and maritime system. Produced for an educated British readership, Blackie’s maps exemplify the late-nineteenth-century fusion of cartography, pedagogy, and colonial ideology.

Rare as a complete paired set and rich in political, infrastructural, and visual information, these maps represent an authoritative and highly desirable survival from the cartographic culture of the mature British Raj.

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