Charles Henry Sanford's cartographic book plate
1892 The Land of the Almighty Dollar, a critical account of the United Sates chiefly based on the author’s travels in New York and Chicago.
I’ve been dipping into it and the text is worthy of a post in itself, but I’m determined to stick to the point. I bought this copy as it is inscribed by the author, from one financier to another:
The recipient was Anglo-American millionaire Charles Henry Sanford (1840-1928), who made his fortune in Argentina and came within an ace of ruining Barings Bank in the panic of 1890. His magnificent cartographic bookplate comes well within the scope of this blog.
The artist has clearly looked for inspiration to sixteenth-century mapmakers such as Mercator and Ortelius, and the geographical focus reflects Sanford’s life and business interests in Buenos Aires, New York and London, where in later life he established himself in Carlton Terrace. But the icing on the cake is that the artist was Herbert Ward - sculptor, illustrator and African explorer, a friend of H.M Stanley and Roger Casement… and Sanford’s son-in-law.
Leave a comment