Bombay and Deccan States

1947

Lithograph on paper

39.25 x 29.5 in (100 x 75 cm)

BOMBAY PRESIDENCY AND THE DECCAN STATES: POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE MAP ON THE EVE OF INDEPENDENCE, 1947

Large folding lithographed map in colour, dissected and mounted on linen, as issued, with original printed slipcase (if present). Approximate size: 100 × 75 cm unfolded.

The map presents the Bombay Presidency with adjoining Deccan States, including detailed political divisions, district boundaries, railways, rivers, and roads. Inset maps feature Bombay Island, Goa, and outlying territories, offering a complete administrative picture of western India during the late colonial period.

The Bombay Presidency was one of the three major administrative provinces of British India, encompassing not only present-day Maharashtra and Gujarat but also territories extending into Karnataka and the Konkan coast. By the inter-war period, when this map was issued, the Presidency had assumed its definitive late-colonial form, balancing a dense industrial core around Bombay city with a wide hinterland of princely states and agrarian districts.

Printed by the Survey of India, the foremost cartographic authority of the Raj, the map exemplifies the Empire’s emphasis on clear administrative geography. Railways, trunk roads, and district headquarters are highlighted in red, while the use of multiple colours for territorial divisions reflects the Presidency’s complexity. The inset maps of Bombay Island and Goa underscore the region’s economic and cultural centrality.

Such maps, issued on the eve of Independence, are today important both for their visual appeal and as records of political geography before the dissolution of the Presidencies in 1947.

This lot is offered at NO RESERVE

This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each lot.