Aaron Arrowsmith | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1750 |
| Died | 1823 (aged 72–73) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Cartographer Engraver |
Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers.
Aaron Arrowsmith | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 1750 |
| Died | 1823 (aged 72–73) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Cartographer Engraver |
Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers.
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.
