[Atlas] Stieler
Taschen-Atlas über alle theile der erde nach dem neuesten zustande In 24 illuminirten karten in küpferstich. Nach Stieler´s Hand-Atlas verkleinert.
Siebente auflage (seventh edition) Gotha: Justus Perthes. 1856. 14 x 8 cm. Title + 24 maps hand colored in outline. Engravings.
Brown cloth with title in gilt at the front board. Two owners inscriptions on the front fly leaf. Some wear to the binding. Front board a bit wharped. The title with staining and browning. A water stain in the lower part of the maps throughout the atlas. Also a water stain at the top of the last few maps, but quite discreet.
A handsome little atlas. One map each of the eastern and the western hemispheres and six continental maps. The rest of the maps covers european countries. This atlas had a very long run, the first edition was published in 1836 and the last in 1953. Early editions such as this, were probably not supposed to be folded. That practice started in 1884 when the atlas was given a new format. This copy is, however, folded which means that the two columns of text on the back of the title page now are divided into two sections, the second column is found on the page before the title (which explains why it starts with a small letter) and the first column is found on the page after the title. According to Espenhorst almost none of the these early atlases have survived. He says that "It would appear that pocket atlases from the years 1845 to 1883 are the rarest of all the J. Perthes atlases". (See Espenhorst 2.6.1 Andre Stieler, Mayer and Petermann´s Plane).
Item No: 4114