A most unusual atlas of the one of the greatest military battles in British history, that of the Waterloo Campaign fought between the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon. The maps themselves are derived from a model of plaster and fabric constructed by Colonel William Siborne in 1838. The atlas can be found with an octavo two volume text here missing. Siborne holds a particular role in the history of Waterloo. In 1829 the Army proposed building a United Services Museum in which the central exhibit was to be a scale model of the Battle of Waterloo. Siborne, a brilliant topographer and surveyor was given the commission.

The model was constructed on an enormous scale covering 400 square feet, every tree, copse, and contour of the field of battle would be shown. About 75,000 tin models (one for every two actual soldiers) represented the deployment of forces at the critical point of the battle – 7 p.m. on 18 June 1815 – the time when when events the battle turned against the French Emperor. Siborne was meticulous in his research. He collected notes, letters, spent 8 months on the actual battlefield and 8 years researching the battle. However this research identified that Wellington’s view of the Battle was not quite correct. He claimed that the Prussians arrived after the battle had turned when in fact Siborne could prove that they were involved in it several hours earlier. The model was unveiled at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly to the rapturous acclaim of 100,000 visitors in the first year. All except Wellington whose own view of the battle had up till now held steady and supported his stature in the publics eye. It was particularly damaging as the image that had been nurtured was that it was Britain that had saved Europe from the tyranny of Napoleon and the brilliance of the Duke particularly. The fascinating footnote to all of this is that the model still exists today on display at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, however Wellington’s own view of the Battle prevailed and the 40,000 offending Prussians have virtually all been removed from the model!

Wallis and Robinson state that it is only the first edition offered here which included the anaglyptographic maps. The technique allowed the maps to appear three dimensional although they are not. To achieve this effect one is instructed to ‘Place this upper side nearest the light’ or hold it at a sharp angle to it. Consistent colour codes throughout highlight the particular forces. The engraving was the work of Alfred Robert Freebairn (1794?-1846). A fascinating item. Wallis and Robinson ‘Cartographical Innovations’ p. 287; Worms & Baynton-Williams.