A Map of Bengal, Bahar, Oude & Allahabad with Part of Agra and Delhi Exhibiting the Course of the Ganges from Hurdwar to the Sea by James Rennell, R.F.S.

1786

Original hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Print size: 28.25 x 41.75 in (71.5 x 106 cm)
Sheet size: 30 x 42.75 in (76 x 108.7 cm)

Bengal, Bahar and the Upper Ganges — William Faden’s Authoritative Map after Rennell

This large and finely engraved map represents one of the most authoritative late-eighteenth-century cartographic syntheses of northern and eastern India, encompassing Bengal, Bihar, Agra, Allahabad, Delhi, and adjoining regions, extending northwards towards the Himalayan frontier. Published in London by William Faden—appointed Geographer to the King in 1783—the map translates the field surveys of James Rennell, Surveyor-General of Bengal, into a durable metropolitan image intended for administrative, strategic, and scholarly use.

The geography is rendered with exceptional precision for the period, particularly in the delineation of river systems, provincial boundaries, and road networks central to East India Company governance. Political divisions are carefully distinguished, while the northern margins gesture towards Tibet and the Himalayan zone, reflecting the limits of contemporary British geographic knowledge. The map’s engraved clarity and restrained original hand-colouring are characteristic of Faden’s production standards and underscore its official character.

The engraved cartouche, composed in a restrained neoclassical idiom, reinforces the map’s official metropolitan character. It shows a bearded sea god resting his arm on a bull's head, and an alligator and leopard are beside him. At right, an Indian woman holds a bowl over a kneeling man, as two other men look on.

An inexhaustive census suggests at least three identifiable states of the map. In the earliest, cities within the Kathmandu Valley are depicted but left unnamed; a subsequent state introduces the large inscription “Part of Thibet” in the upper left; later impressions name Kathmandu Valley cities and identify Berar explicitly. The present example corresponds to a later, more information-rich state, although precise sequencing requires plate comparison.

James Rennell (1742–1830) was the foremost scientific surveyor of British India, responsible for the first approximately accurate mapping of the subcontinent, including the Bengal Atlas (1779). His surveys, conducted while serving the East India Company between 1764 and 1777, formed the empirical foundation upon which this map rests. William Faden’s role was to compile, engrave, and publish Rennell’s data for an imperial audience, a function he fulfilled as Britain’s leading map publisher of the period, closely associated with both the Ordnance Survey and the Admiralty. The present map stands as a key document of British colonial knowledge production at the close of the eighteenth century.

Well-preserved examples with original colour are increasingly scarce and are prized for their documentary authority, visual impact, and central position in the history of colonial cartography.

NON-EXPORTABLE

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