Aaron Arrowsmith
Born1750 (1750)
England
Died1823 (aged 72–73)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Cartographer
Engraver

Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers.

Life

He moved to Soho Square, London from Winston, County Durham, when about twenty years of age, and was employed by John Cary, the engraver and William Faden. He became Hydrographer to the Prince of Wales c. 1810 and subsequently to the King in 1820. In January 1790 he made himself famous by his large chart of the world on Mercator projection. Four years later he published another large map of the world on the globular projection, with a companion volume of explanation. Improperly called "Arrowsmith's projection," the globular projection used by Arrowsmith was invented by Giovan Battista Nicolosi, of Paternò, Sicily, in 1660, while Arrowsmith did not use it until 1794.[1] The maps of North America (1796) and Scotland (1807) are the most celebrated of his many later productions. [2]

In 1804, 63 maps drawn by Arrowsmith and Samuel Lewis of Philadelphia (publisher of William Clark's manuscript map of the Northwest)[3] were published in the New and elegant General Atlas Comprising all Discoveries to the Present Time. Later editions of the atlas were published in 1805, 1812, and 1819. The 1804 and 1812 editions are digitized in the David Rumsey map collection.

Arrowsmith's 1808 map of the western and eastern hemisphere was updated, corrected and enlarged by James Gardner in 1825.[4]

A careful comparison of this left this writer spellbound both by the coverage of Arrowsmith's map, and by the quality of Gardner's modifications, including his notes documenting subsequent exploration.

— David L. Walker, 2014[4]

He left two sons, Aaron and Samuel, the elder of whom was the compiler of the Eton Comparative Atlas, of a Biblical atlas, and of various manuals of geography.[2]

Aaron Arrowsmith the elder was responsible for organising the volume of maps for Rees's Cyclopædia, 1802–19.

The business was thus carried on in company with John Arrowsmith (1790–1873), nephew of the elder Aaron. In 1821, they published a more complete North American map from a combination of a maps obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company and Aaron's previous one.

Mount Arrowsmith, situated east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is named for Aaron Arrowsmith and his nephew John Arrowsmith.

Maps published

Arrowsmith's Map Exhibiting All the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America, dated 1 January 1795
Arrowsmith's A New Map of Mexico and Adjacent Provinces, 1810

References

  1. ↑ Craig, Thomas (1882). A Treatise on Projections. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 97.
  2. 1 2 Chisholm 1911.
  3. ↑ Allen, John Logan (1991). Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest. Courier Corporation. p. 375. ISBN 9780486269146.
  4. 1 2 "James Gardner 1808-1840", David L Walker, Sheetlines, 101 (December 2014), pp31-38
  5. ↑ "A Map Exhibiting all the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America. Inscribed by Permission to the Honorable Governor and Company of Adv".
  6. ↑ "Before Lewis & Clark – Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America | Exhibitions (Library of Congress)". Library of Congress. 24 June 2003.
  7. ↑ "Map of America by A. Arrowsmith, Hydrographer to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. 1804. W. & G. Cooke, Sculp. London. Published 4th September 1804 by A. Arrowsmith No. 10 Soho Square ... Engraved by W. West, the Hills by H. Wilson". 1811.
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