Southern India Including the Presidencies of Bombay & Madras

1851

Steel engraving on paper

Print Size: 12.75 x 10 in (32 x 25.2 cm)
With Mount: 19 x 16.25 in (48 x 41 cm)

Southern India—John Tallis’s Decorative Map with Vignettes of Colonial Landmarks

Steel-engraved decorative map of Southern India which shows the arrangement of princely states and 'presidencies' (areas directly ruled by the British East India Company) that ruled over the Indian subcontinent prior to the creation of the British Raj. The illustrations mostly show locations in northern India that are not on the map, such as the Government House (now Raj Bhavan) in Calcutta, the Fortress of Shuhur (otherwise known as Amer or Amber Fort) in Jaipur, and the tomb of Muhammad Shah in Delhi. At the bottom right is an illustration without a caption that shows British soldiers writing on a monument: Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Sobraon. These were sites of pivotal battles in the Anglo-Sikh War, with Sobraon being a decisive British victory which ended the war.

This decorative and detailed map of Southern India was drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin (vignettes by A. H. Wray & J. H. Kernot) and published in John Tallis's Illustrated Atlas (London & New York: John Tallis & Co., c.1851).

Beyond its cartographic utility, the sheet exemplifies Tallis’s distinctive fusion of geographic precision and visual spectacle. The composition is framed by an elaborate decorative border and enriched with finely engraved vignette views of key colonial and historical landmarks, including palaces, tombs, and government architecture, which reinforce the imperial narrative of British dominion and antiquarian curiosity. Heraldic devices and ethnographic figures further underscore the map’s role as both an informational document and a cultural artefact of Victorian imperialism.

Produced during the height of British administrative consolidation in India, Tallis’s maps functioned as instruments of education, propaganda, and prestige, shaping popular geographic understanding among European audiences. This example survives as a visually commanding synthesis of cartography, colonial imagery, and decorative print culture, appealing to collectors of Victorian maps, British India, and pictorial atlases.

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