Name: Archibald Fullarton
Dates: Flourished 1833 - 1850
Map type: Steel plate engraved maps.
Archibald Fullarton founded the firm A. Fullarton and Co, initially in Glasgow between the years 1833-1840. The business was a house of engraving and publishing and, from relatively small beginnings, was one that rapidly expanded into London, Edinburgh and Glasgow and Dublin during the course of the following five years.
Some of his published works include the remarkable Rev Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland as well as fellow mapmaker John Bartholomew's renowned Imperial Map, many re-issues of which were to follow. From here, such was the demand for his maps, Fullarton adopted the somewhat risky strategy of re-printing work from other mapmakers, notably Bell's New and Comprehensive Gazetter of England and Wales, a collection of county maps, which were in turn copied from Samuel Lewis' Topographical English Dictionary.
The vagaries of 19th century copyright laws led to numerous disagreements around the use of other mapmakers' work, the conclusions of which are often equally vague. Fullarton was believed to have consciously considered the possibility of disputes by carefully changing enough, and introducing more content to make accusations of plagiarism appear spurious.
Regardless of the intricacies of who did the original work, and the changes Fullarton offered, the maps themselves are decoratively second only to Thomas Moule, who published his county collection within the same decade as Fullarton's. Whereas Moule's maps were highly decorated, to the point where the decoration, in some cases, tends to steal the focus from the maps, Fullarton's maps usually included only one fine graphic of an appropriate building, monument or view, leaving the focus very much on the content of the map.
Some of his published works include the remarkable Rev Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland as well as fellow mapmaker John Bartholomew's renowned Imperial Map, many re-issues of which were to follow. From here, such was the demand for his maps, Fullarton adopted the somewhat risky strategy of re-printing work from other mapmakers, notably Bell's New and Comprehensive Gazetter of England and Wales, a collection of county maps, which were in turn copied from Samuel Lewis' Topographical English Dictionary.
The vagaries of 19th century copyright laws led to numerous disagreements around the use of other mapmakers' work, the conclusions of which are often equally vague. Fullarton was believed to have consciously considered the possibility of disputes by carefully changing enough, and introducing more content to make accusations of plagiarism appear spurious.
Regardless of the intricacies of who did the original work, and the changes Fullarton offered, the maps themselves are decoratively second only to Thomas Moule, who published his county collection within the same decade as Fullarton's. Whereas Moule's maps were highly decorated, to the point where the decoration, in some cases, tends to steal the focus from the maps, Fullarton's maps usually included only one fine graphic of an appropriate building, monument or view, leaving the focus very much on the content of the map.