Joshua Archer was born in Barnstaple, Devon. He was married to Jane Jones and had two boys, Alfred and John. A draughtsman and engraver working in Pentonville, London. Best known to collectors of county maps for his series of maps in Thomas Dugdale's Curiosities of Great Britain, England and Wales. A slightly earlier volume by Thomas Dugdale titlted Curiosities of Great Britain published in 1835 was illustrated with a series of county maps by John Cole and John Roper which had first appeared in The British Atlas in 1810. The later editions do not have the attractive outline or outline and wash hand colouring found on the 1810 edition.
You will come across uncoloured specimens of Joshua Archer's county maps as well as specimens with early outline hand colouring, early wash hand colouring and of course much later hand colouring.
Archer's maps are particularly interesting as they show proposed and new railway routes.
Map of Cheshire by Joshua Archer, c.1845
Map of Merionethshire by Archibald Fullarton
Map of Merionethshire by Archibald Fullarton
Map of Cardiganshire by Archibald Fullarton
Map of Glamorganshire by Archibald Fullarton
Map of Angldesey by Joshua Archer
Photo Lancaster Sands by J. M. W. Turner by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
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