Old Style Hand Drawn London Wall Map -- Canvas Print

"10 of the best hand-drawn maps." - The Guardian

This beautiful vintage 1800s style wall map took over three years to produce and accurately describes the capital city of London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. (Vintage 2012.)

Hand-drawn in England, this rare map is one of the few contemporary maps still made in the historical style, incorporating symbolic and traditional elements of maps used by travellers and explorers of past centuries.

Extending from Kensington Palace Gardens to Tower of London, this canvas map of London measures 89 x 53 cm and makes a strong statement in any home or office.

View canvas print map in high resolution:
wellingtonstravel.com

Note: map is not stretched and does not come with the ring nor frame.


Traditions:
In the 1800s, diplomats and merchants from around the world arrived in the ports of London and would purchase maps from pedlars. Maps were not only very popular but also a crucial tool that kept visitors safe and informed of markets, churches, neighbourhoods, and lodgings.

These meticulously crafted working documents also served as gifts, ornaments, and elegant tokens of remembrance for early travellers. As the city changed, so has the look of its maps - but not ours. Our current day maps have kept the same style true to the originals used in the days of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

About the artwork:
As passionate travellers and lovers of style, we started researching and drafting a map in 2009 that could be both beautiful yet relevant to our lives. Google Maps are practical but emotionless, culture-less. Old maps have a marked allure of romance, adventure, and exploration. We wanted to give that back to modern maps.

We referenced many maps from 16th to 19th Century and tried to recreate that style on paper. After sketching the layout on paper and illustrating many buildings using bird’s eye view, we decided to re-draw it digitally to capture the layers and high fidelity artwork. This took years to master and we tried variously painting and layering styles until it looked great.

In 2011, we started working on the physical product. We sought out experts from across England and Eastern Europe including antique map dealers, paper experts, and shoemakers for guidance. Producing the physical map involved prototyping with many materials including PVC, faux leather, many types of paper, canvas, and a dozen types of glue and adhesives. After making over five types of maps which included it being glued to leather, stitched to leather, rolled, folded, wrapped in leather and silk, in box, in tube, etc. We decided on a less than lavish final consumer product at a price that retailers were willing to take a risk on during the Christmas season and it was very successful for stores. This was the canvas london map.

In 2012, we decided to mass produce a traveller’s map to sell to tourists who were looking for a worthy souvenir. Our more daring mapmaker, journeyed to The Orient to a small place near Shanghai, China. There he worked with the locals to re-create a coarse paper map with qualities of the maps of old. The locals showed him the paper goods trade and he taught them the British practice of making fine products. They worked from morning to night until they produced enough to fill three large crates. After being hand-folded, these maps were shipped over 7,500 miles on the sea vessel Xin Shanghai to Felixstowe is a seaside town on the North Sea coast of Suffolk to be sold across England.