Complete Atlas of the Unified Empire

Huangchao Zhongwai Yitong Yutu [The Complete Atlas of the Unified Empire]. China, copperplate version printed in Qianlong period, 1756; reprint in Tongzhi period, 1863.
Important atlas fusing Western and Chinese cartographic techniques. Cordell Yee views this atlas as the synthesis of the traditional Kangxi atlas with the use of a square grid, probably resulting from the Chinese reform movement. The statement “Zhangxue wei ti, Xixue wei yang (Chinese learning as the principle, Western learning as the application)” appears in the preface to the present work. The atlas consists of more than one hundred leaves, which could be assembled to form four sheet maps: two small maps consisting of a few leaves, one of Vietnam and one of Taiwan; and two large maps, one of mainland China with Hainan and one of Asia extending east to west from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea and north to south from the Arctic Ocean to Indochina and India. References: Cordell D.K. Yee, ‘Traditional Chinese Cartography and the Myth of Westernization’ in The History of Cartography, Vol. II, Book 2, pp.198-199.
12 books, small folio (300 x 190 mm). Woodcut printed, profusely illustrated. Apart from the first volume that is more textual, the remaining eleven volumes are all maps in grids. Thread-bound, light brown Chinese wrappers, title label on the front covers (title label of vol. 1 almost lost, of vol. 12 partly lost, and of the other volumes slightly chipping; the binding threads of vol. 1, 11 and 12 loose; sides and cover margins slightly worn and toned, small stains in some pages along the margins).
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