A Map of the Peninsula of India from the 19th Degree North Latitude to Cape Comorin, 1792 [Two Editions of 1795 & 1800]

A Map of the Peninsula of India from the 19th Degree North Latitude to Cape Comorin, 1792—Second Edition (1795)
Upper Sheet
Print size: 18.75 x 23 in (47.5 x 58.5 cm)
Sheet size: 20.25 x 24.75 in (51.5 x 63 cm)
Lower Sheet
Print size: 20 x 32.75 in (51 x 83 cm)
Sheet size: 22.5 x 34 in (57 x 86.5 cm)

A Map of the Peninsula of India from the 19th Degree North Latitude to Cape Comorin—Third Edition (1800)
Upper Sheet
Print size: 20.25 x 32.5 in (51.5 x 82.5 cm)
Sheet size: 22.5 x 33 in (57 x 84 cm)
Lower Sheet
Print size: 20 x 32.25 in (51 x 82 cm)

Sheet size: 22.5 x 33 in (57 x 84 cm)

Faden’s Definitive Mapping of Southern India: Second Edition (1795) and Third Edition (1800) Charting the Anglo–Mysore Settlement

This important paired lot brings together the Second Edition (1795) and Third Edition (1800) of William Faden’s seminal A Map of the Peninsula of India from the 19th Degree North Latitude to Cape Comorin (first published 1792). Faden—Geographer to the King and among the most authoritative London map publishers of the late eighteenth century—issued this sheet as one of the clearest contemporary cartographic records of South India during the decade in which Mysore was dismantled and British territorial authority decisively consolidated.

The map exists in three editions, the first of which was published in 1792, the second in 1795, and the third in 1800. The present lot is especially significant in offering the latter two states, which focus directly on the changing political boundaries after the Third and Fourth Anglo–Mysore Wars, set against the longer arc of Anglo–Mysore conflict:

1. First Anglo–Mysore War (1767–1769)
2. Second Anglo–Mysore War (1780–1784)
3. Third Anglo–Mysore War (1790–1792)
4. Fourth Anglo–Mysore War (1798–1799)

The Third Anglo–Mysore War (1790–1792) ended after the 1792 siege of Srirangapatana and the signing of the Treaty of Srirangapatana, according to which Tipu Sultan had to surrender half of his kingdom to the British East India Company and its allies. The earlier map in this lot—the Second Edition (1795)—shows these newly ceded territories with particular clarity, including Nayr’s Country (North Kerala), the Dindigul Country, and the Namakool (Namakkal) provinces, transferred to the British under the treaty settlement.

The Fourth Anglo–Mysore War (1798–1799) brought the conflict to its decisive conclusion. The British won a major victory at the siege of Seringapatam (1799), during which Tipu Sultan was killed in the defence of the city. The later map in this lot—the Third Edition (1800)—embodies the aftermath of this final defeat: much of the remaining Mysore territory is shown annexed by the British (as can be seen with the red colour), as well as redistributed among the Nizam and the Marathas, with the British East India Company predominating across the peninsula. Notably, some areas are explicitly labelled with the dates 1792 and 1799, showcasing successive phases in which the region was ceded to British authority. A reduced core territory, around Mysore and Seringapatam, was restored to the Indian prince Yuvaraja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (later Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III) under his grandmother’s regency, signalling the new subsidiary political order imposed after 1799.

Beyond their political documentation, both editions demonstrate the technical sophistication of Faden’s London workshop. An intricate cartouche in the lower left contains extensive remarks about the map as well as a set of scale bars depicting several units of measurement, including the coss (kos), with the conversion ratio between coss (approximately 3000 metres) and the British standard unit of distance. The map was engraved by R. Baker and printed by William Faden, and the whole is masterfully presented in visually striking, almost three-dimensional engraving with superb period colour.

The map’s compilation is equally significant. It was compiled by James Rennell, drawing upon papers communicated by the late Sir Archibald Campbell, and incorporating the surveys of Col. Kelly, Capt. Pringle, Capt. Allan, and others—reflecting the East India Company’s expanding infrastructure of military and geographic intelligence at the close of the eighteenth century.

Taken together, these paired editions offer an unusually rich and educational cartographic record of Southern India at one of the most consequential moments in its colonial history. They chart, with rare immediacy, the peninsula’s transformation through war, treaty, annexation, and administrative reorganisation, and they remain essential reference points for understanding how British imperial governance was progressively mapped, formalised, and communicated through authoritative printed geography.

(Set of two)

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at 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.