Separately issued folding wall map of Scotland on four sheets.


Ainslie's wall map of Scotland is renowned as the finest and most accurate survey of the country published to that time. It was first issued in 1789 and published by John and his relative James in Edinburgh and William Faden in London. It makes full use of John's expertise in land surveying and engraving.


John first gained experience in large scale land surveying and map making as an apprentice to Thomas Jefferys in London, where he participated in the production of several large scale English county maps in the 1760s; he then moved to Scotland and began the same practice for Scottish counties, particularly on the east coast. He made full use of these surveys, many of which were originally for His Majesty's Inspector of Customs. By the time he produced this map in 1789, Ainslie had a substantial archive of new, original work on which to base his wall map. The project was further aided by one of the first uses of Murdoch MacKenzie's new regional surveys of the west coast and the Western Isles on a map of the whole country.


Although the map was a great success, Ainslie was already working on other projects, such as a new land survey of the county of Angus in 1794 followed by a survey of Kirkcudbrightshire in 1796. No doubt encouraged by the success of the 1789 edition, he incorporated these new surveys as well as several corrections and additions to a second edition of this map in 1800; however, on this printing, he removed his name as the Scottish publisher and replaced it with Thomas Brown, a fellow map seller. William Faden remained as the London agent and main seller for the map. It is not known if Brown supported the project financially or bought the plates and sub-contracted Ainslie. This version must have also been a success as the map was then regularly updated, revised and issued to 1840, totalling eleven editions to this date but under several different publishers.


Finally, as an interesting quirk, Ainslie puts the Prime Meridian through Edinburgh.


The example offered here is the 1800 second edition in magnificent full original colour. Unusually it is in four sheets as opposed to the nine that are usually called for.


Folded with original case. [SCOT1737]