James Wyld’s Amazing Project

The idea for my new Kickstarter project was born some years ago when I was able to get my hands on an original copy of “Wyld’s School Atlas” in an antique shop, a work of James Wyld’s cartographic factory.

The maps in that atlas are made with inks in various colours, all handmade, of course. The degree of detail, meticulousness and patience required to produce the original engravings that were then reproduced in the atlases is truly admirable, especially in today’s world, where maps are drawn at lightning speed on our computer screens and mobile phones. In fact, it was these maps by James Wyld that spurred me on to the adventure of collecting similar maps to shape the current project on Kickstarter. But who was James Wyld? Here are some interesting facts about his life.

James Wyld (1812–1887) was a British geographer and map dealer who became famous both for his atlases and for a gigantic globe-project. His father, also named James, had set up a printing press to produce and sell maps. In fact, it was a family saga that was devoted to cartography from the late 18th to the early 20th century. The Wyld map shop in Charing Cross, London, was prestigious and James achieved membership of the leading geographical societies of the time in his country, as well as being appointed “Geographer to her Majesty” by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

However, our James, although he enjoyed the same prestige that his father had enjoyed, took the map-making business to the limit, sometimes including in his maps certain…