One of the most attractive maps of Italy to appear in the 19th century, this is the 1814 Mawman and Smith re-engraving of G. A. Rizzi-Zannoni’s magnificent 1802  Nuova Carta dell'Italia .  Only slightly smaller than Rizzi-Zannoni’s map in the vertical dimension, Mawman has narrowed the map in the horizontal by reformatting the whole with a northwesterly orientation in which most of Sicily and Corsica are cropped out in order to draw the focus of the map more firmly to the peninsular mainland of Italy.   The result is an intensely detailed map in which Rizzi-Zannoni’s fine engraving work is preserved and in some cased improved upon by Smith’s own careful hand.     At over 40 inches in height and 17 inches in width, this map is a spectacular display piece in its own right.  The engraving throughout, the work of Smith, is magnificent with topography rendered in stunning profile.  A red and drawn line shows the classicists’ ideal tour through Italy.  Entering Italy by crossing the Alps from France, the tour leads through Torino and Vercelli before heading northeast to visit Lake Como, from which the path then leads south to Milan and Genoa.  Taking to ship at Genoa, our tourist skirts the coast of the Italian Riviera to land at Livorno before turning inland to Lucca and Florence (Firenze).  From Florence the tour leads southward through central Italy to reach Rome and, ultimately, Naples.  Returning along the same course the route once again passes through Rome but then heads eastward across the peninsula to Loretto on Italy’s Adriatic coast.  From Loretto the route passes northwards along an old Roman causeway to Parma, Lake Garda, and ultimately Padua and Venice.  The more adventurous traveller can then continue northeast to Trento and finally eastwards into Greece.  Mawman planned his this reimagining of Rizzi-Zannoni’s map at the request of the Reverend, J. C. Eustace, who planned to include it in his  Classical Tour Through Italy , an early  19th century touring guide to the antiquities of Italy.  Today  Classical Tour through Italy  rarely appears on the market, and in most cases does not contain this map, which appeared in only one edition.   Moreover, this particular example does not correspond in format to any of the known examples of  Classical Tour… , suggesting that it must have also been issued and sold independently by Mawman.  This map is extremely scarce.  We have been unable to identify any examples appearing in dealer catalogs or at auction in the last 30 years. Moreover, we have isolated only a single example in an institutional collection, that being, typically enough, in the collection of Rome's British School.
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1814 (dated)
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