Aaron Arrowsmith

Arrowsmith 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 {{circa|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 attributed "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.{{cite book|title=A Treatise on Projections|author-link=Thomas Craig (mathematician)|first=Thomas|last=Craig|location=Washington|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1882|page=97}} The maps of North America (1796) and Scotland (1807) are the most celebrated of his many later productions. {{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1804, 63 maps drawn by Arrowsmith and Samuel Lewis of Philadelphia (publisher of William Clark's manuscript map of the Northwest){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEOgDiZlgxIC|title=Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest

|last=Allen|first=John Logan|date=1991|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=9780486269146|page=375}} 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 digitised 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.[https://www.charlesclosesociety.org/files/Issue101page31.pdf "James Gardner 1808-1840"], David L Walker, Sheetlines, 101 (December 2014), pp31-38

{{blockquote|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}}

He left two sons, Aaron and Samuel. Aaron Arrowsmith Jr (1802–1854), the elder of the two sons, was the compiler of the Eton Comparative Atlas and a Geographical Dictionary of the Holy Scriptures (1855).{{Citebook |last=Arrowsmith |first=Aaron, the younger |title='Geographical Dictionary of the Holy Scriptures' |date=1855 |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans |place=London}}[https://archive.org/details/geographicaldict00arro] Samuel Arrowsmith (died 1839) was the compiler of a Biblical atlas,{{Citebook|last=Arrowsmith|first=Samuel|title='The Bible Atlas, with Ancient and Modern Names, being a Delineation of the Geography and a Chronological Arrangement of the History of the Holy Bible, as also of the Apocryphal Books and Josephus'|place=London|publisher=Samuel Arrowsmith|date=1835}} and of various manuals of geography.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Aaron Arrowsmith Sr 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 Aaron Sr. 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.

File:Aaron Arrowsmith1795map.jpg

File:Arrowsmith Mexico 1810 UTA.jpg

• Chart of the world on Mercator's projection, exhibiting all the new discoveries to the present time: with the tracks of the most distinguished navigators since the year 1700, carefully collected from the best charts, maps, voyages, &c extant., 1790 (8 sheets)
• A Map Exhibiting All the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America, 1 January 1795, with numerous other editions, including in [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/51808 1796], [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/50607mp2 1802], 1811, [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/57423mp2 1814], 1818, [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/80356 1819], and [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/59978 1824]. The 1802 version of this map was studied closely by Meriwether Lewis prior to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the 1811 edition was updated with the published information from that expedition in the 1814 edition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/57423mp2/a-map-exhibiting-all-the-new-discoveries-in-the-interior-par-arrowsmith|title=A Map Exhibiting all the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America. Inscribed by Permission to the Honorable Governor and Company of Adv}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-before.html#27|title=Before Lewis & Clark – Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America | Exhibitions (Library of Congress)|website=Library of Congress |date=24 June 2003}}
• Chart of the Pacific Ocean Drawn from a great number of Printed and Ms. Journals..., 1798, [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/41296hc 1820 edition] (9 sheets)
• [https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/6vo5t5 Africa To The Committee and Members of the British Association, 1802 (4 sheets)], [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/79738 1811 edition]
• [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/70111 Chart of the West Indies And Spanish Dominions in North America, 1803 (4 sheets)]
• Map of America, 1804, [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/64045 1808 edition], 1811 edition{{Cite web|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10448425|title = Map of America by A. Arrowsmith, Hydrographer to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. 1804. W. & G. Cooke, Sculp. London. Published 4th September 1804 by A. Arrowsmith No. 10 Soho Square ... Engraved by W. West, the Hills by H. Wilson|year = 1811}}
• Chart of the East Indies Islands, Exhibiting the several Passages between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, 1800, [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/49787 1809 edition], [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/60624op 1812 edition], [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/49928 1824 edition]
• [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/67188 A New Map of Mexico and Adjacent Provinces Compiled from Original Documents., 1810 (4 sheets)]
• Map of Countries Round the North Pole, 1818

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;Attribution

• {{EB1911|wstitle=Arrowsmith|volume=2|page=650}}

• [https://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/9247.html Integrated Land Management Bureau, Government of British Columbia.] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20070815193807/http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=9247 |date=2007-08-15}}

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Category:English geographers

Category:English cartographers

Category:1750 births

Category:1823 deaths