The Islamic Empire first appears on the twelfth, ‘ From the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, A.D. While the atlas is very much an European view of the World Quin does highlight non-European empires, with the Chinese and Indian Empires all appearing in this map.

By this point the World as was known had grown considerably. We are now in the eighth period, From the birth of Christ, to the death of Constantine, A.D. The way the areas shown on the maps advance with each period can be seen in this map. To read more about Hall and his wife Selina see an earlier blog here Hall’s life and work in cartography is a fascinating story in itself, as when he died his wife carried on his work. The engravings were by Sidney Hall, and as can be seen by this extract from the Deluge map Hall was a skilled engraver. With our knowledge of the World growing with each map the clouds withdraw a little further and more of the World is revealed. The beauty of Quin’s atlas comes from this sense of mystery achieved by revealing the known parts of the World according to the period of the map, with the rest of the World covered by thick, dark billowing clouds. The Deluge, from Edward Quin’s An historical atlas…1830. and ending with the General Peace of 1828.

Quin’s atlas shows the geographically known extent of the World (to Europeans) in a series of 21 maps, starting with the deluge in 2348 B.C.

If ever the introduction to an atlas sounded like the start of a Jane Austen novel it’s Edward Quin’s fascinating ‘ An historical atlas in a series of maps of the World as known at different times…A general view of universal history from the creation to A.D. ‘ It is hoped that the work now offered to the Public, will be found to rank among those which convey to the reader, at once, their plan, and in these, their own recommendation’.

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