Kitchin General World Atlas

Kitchin, Thomas (1719-1784).
A General Atlas, describing the Whole Universe.
London: Robert Sayer and J. Bennett, [1782-1787].
Folio (21 x 15 2/8 inches). Letterpress title-page (spotted). 23 engraved maps on 35 mapsheets with original hand-colour in outline (some mostly marginal spotting and light soiling, occasional offsetting). Modern half calf, over contemporary marbled paper boards (boards rubbed).
Provenance: with the early 19th-century ownership inscription of H. Hamilton, Blackburn Cottage at the head of the title-page; Forster family; acquired from Lepe House, by Christopher Henry Beaumont Pease, Lord Wardington (1924-2005), Library of Important Atlases and Geographies, his sale Sothebys’ 10th October 2005, lot 240. One of the first atlases to reflect the many boundary changes resulting from the Peace of Versailles after it had been fully accepted by Britain and the other European powers, as well as the United States. Several maps can be joined to form large wall maps. The atlas was originally compiled by Thomas Jeffreys and first published in 1773, after his bankruptcy, by Robert Sayer as Sayer’s first terrestrial atlas. Subsequently, Sayer, and from 1794 his successors Laurie and Whittle, reprinted or reissued the atlas almost annually. From the distinguished library of Lord Wardington whose collection of Atlases was unique: “a panoply of the history of cartography and of great mapmakers†(Andrew Phillips “An Appreciationâ€, Sotheby’s). Phillips 667 & 3522.
Comparable: Sotheby’s, 10/18/05 - $11,555.