France in Departments

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Lithograph, original hand colored in outline. Decorative double page hand colored lithograph antique map, showing detailed France. Hand colored decorative in outline and wash when published, piano key border. Caxton Buildings, Liverpool, 1859. The printing works of George Philip & Son Ltd were situated here. Philip used cartographers such as John Bartholomew the elder, August Petermann, and William Hughes to produce maps on copper plates. Philip then had these printed and hand-coloured by his women tinters. By the time he produced his county maps of 1862 he was using machine coloured maps produced on power-driven lithographic presses. 'His maps ranged from the expensive Imperial Library Atlas (1864) to an atlas costing as little as 3d. and, although the bulk of his production was for the commercial, and particularly the educational market, he also produced important scientific maps, notably of North America, especially the Arctic and Pacific Northwest, and of the West Indies. The firm supplied atlases, geographical and history books, school textbooks, and an array of educational books and equipment. The company also produced textbooks for overseas countries, starting with an atlas for Australian schools in 1865 and for New Zealand in 1869. The demand from board schools, established after 1870, enabled further expansion in the market for general textbooks, school stationery, atlases and wall maps, etc Philip also employed many noted writers including the geographer and historian John Francon Williams who wrote, compiled and edited many books for the company from 1881 over a 20-year period. (Wikipedia)