• Title : France in Departments Drawn and Engraved for Dr Playfairs Geography.
• Size: 23in x 18 1/2in (585mm x 480mm)
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Date : 1814
• Ref #:  31154

Description:
This large original antique copper-plate engraved map of France was published in the 1814 edition of A System of Geography Ancient and Modern (1810–14) (Ref Tooley M&B)

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: -
Colors used: -
General color appearance: -
Paper size: - 23in x 18 1/2in (585mm x 480mm)
Plate size: - 23in x 18 1/2in (585mm x 480mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (10mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning in margins
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Light age toning

Playfair, Rev James Octavius 1738 - 1819
Rev Playfair was a Scottish minister and author and an eminent figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. He was born at West Bendochy in Perthshire the son of George Playfair (d. 1786), a farmer, and his wife, Jean Roger (d. 1804).[1]

He studied at St Andrews University and then became minister of Newtyle (1770–77) and Meigle (1777–1800). He was then appointed Principal of St Andrews University in 1800. During this period he was also minister of St Leonard\\\'s Church in St Andrews.

In 1779 St Andrews awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD). In 1787 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Playfair (a distant cousin) and Alexander Fraser Tytler.[2]

He was the official histiographer of the then Prince of Wales.

He died at Dalmarnock near Glasgow. He is buried in Glasgow but is also memorialised on the grave of his wife in the churchyard of St Andrews Cathedral.
Publications:
1. A System of Chronology (1782)
2. A System of Geography Ancient and Modern (1810–14)
3. General Atlas Ancient and Modern (1814)
4. A Geographical and Statistical Description of Scotland (1819)