A rare and decorative map of Britain and Ireland known in only a handful of copies, published by a little-known Glaswegian cartographer, J. Stark. Given the publication date of 1851, it is likely that this map was produced to celebrate the Great Exhibition.

The borders of the map are filled with panels of text listing important dates in the history of Britain from A.D.100 to 1851 - the penultimate item in this list is the opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria in May, 1851. The lower border contains four panels which detail the history of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Running along the inside of the entire border is a family tree which traces the royal lineage all the way from Queen Victoria and her children back to the Saxon King Egbert of A.D.627.

Two comparative charts showing the heights of Britain's mountains and the lengths of its rivers provide further embellishment. Curiously, Ben Macdui is listed as Britain's highest peak, not Ben Nevis. Dotted lines emerging from each of Britain's most important port cities list the distances to global destinations, such as New York, the Caribbean, India, Malacca, Japan, and South Africa.

We have identified two other examples of this map in institutional collections and have seen two other examples on the open market. This is a scarce map, likely printed in very small numbers.

Original hand-colour. [Framed]