A lovely example of an atlas of caricature maps reflecting the perspective of a Victorian Britain facing the likes of Garibaldi and Bismark in Europe. The author William Harvey (1796-1873) used the pseudonym Aleph. He was a doctor and active journalist for the City Press who wrote on London and the author of London Scenes and London People published in 1863. In his introduction he writes how the maps were drawn by a fifteen year old girl for the amusement of her sick brother. Her identity has not been discovered. The idea apparently came from an earlier drawing of England represented by Punch riding on a dolphin. There intent was not just entertainment but also educational as the introduction states ‘no history no journal can be understood without acknowledge of maps, and good services is done when we make such information more easy and agreeable’. Provenance: ownership inscription of the original purchaser ‘John H Stirling from his godfather Henry Hartley May 7th 1869’. Slowther in ‘The Map Collector’ no. 16 pp. 48-50.