John Walker (fl.1813-73) was a brother to Charles Walker (1799?-1872) and in about 1827 they formed the partnership of J. & C. Walker. They were well known engravers and publishers of the nineteenth century. They also produced engraved maps for other works including Samuel Lewis’ ‘Topographical Dictionary of England’, 1831 and Greenwood’s ‘Atlas of the Counties of England’, 1834. There father, also John Walker, produced a number of charts for the Admiralty and was a founder member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. Inspiration for the ‘British Atlas’ might have come from the success of the large folio Greenwood atlas. Preparation for it began in 1835 was first published jointly with Longman, Rees & Co. on 1 March 1837 and dedicated to their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria who later that year ascended to the throne. It proved to be a popular atlas with a number of editions up to 1880. Originally the atlas was issued with 47 maps; those of Scotland and Ireland were added at a later date. Sometime in the late 1840s the dates in the imprints of individual maps were all removed. In 1850 lithographic transfers were made in partnership with William Colling Hobson (d.c.1878) to create ‘Hobson’s Fox Hunting Atlas’, another atlas which was successful. Dating this work is particularly difficult as it was never dated. Internal evidence based on the presentation of railway data is the most useful guide. Hobson had already worked with the Walker’s on producing his large scale maps of Durham, 1840, and Yorkshire in 1843, both engraved by the Walker’s. In this example the maps of Lancashire and Westmoreland do not show any hunts and are in fact intaglio printed. Provenance: ownership notation of ‘Archibald Travies 1853 from ?’ on title; Sworders 20 October 2015 lot 138; private English collection. Beresiner (1983) pp. 232-3; Carroll (1996) 105; Chubb (1027) 532; Hodson (1974) 103; Nicholson (2007).