Extremely attractive map of the world on Mercator's Projection exhibiting its geological features and layers as first researched by William Smith.

Geology was in its infancy as a science when this map was first issued, hence its relative lack of academic sophistication but it more than makes up for this in its aesthetic appeal and its attempt to educate. The landmasses are coloured in a manner indicating geological layers as keyed to a panel in the lower centre margin. Several vignettes dot the map, illustrating particularly fine volcanic basalt structures such as the Island of Cyclops in the Mediterranean (the modern Cyclopean Islands near Mount Etna) and Barren Island in the Bay Bengal (one of the Andaman Islands) which shows a smoking volcano. Short panels of geological description are present on the upper centre of the map. 

This image formed part of a vast archive published by James Reynolds for educational purposes and sold in a series of portfolios the size of books but with the cards loose. These portfolios covered multiple subjects from the sciences, geography, geology, astronomy, architecture and natural history among many others. They are printed on stiff card and very attractively and expertly coloured contemporaneously to time of publishing.

Original colour. [WLD4715]