Maps from the past often look very different to the kind we’re used to using today. Often maps were artistic like the topographical drawings you will see in this resource. These drawings are part of much larger collection of maps that were gathered by King George III in the late 18th century and early 19th century.
The collection is called the King's Topographical Collection and it is one of the world’s largest, most important and beautiful map collections. It has around 50,000 printed, painted or hand drawn maps and landscape views from across the UK and the then British Empire.
Some of the maps date from as far back as 1540, so they are over 400 years old! The youngest maps date from 1824, so they are still pretty old!
The maps in this resource show different places in Leeds.
King George III had a fascination with geography and maps from an early age. The royal palaces stored lots of atlases, maps, plans and charts already, and once George came to the throne he began to build the collection. He had a keen military interest and maps were a key part of military planning. He also valued topographical drawings as works of art. Some of the topographical drawings were painted by leading 18th century artists including Paul Sandby, William Pars and Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, and Nicholas Hawksmoor.
The king was helped by his librarian, Frederick Augusta Barnard, who employed people to collect maps from across the world for him, including maps of the growing British Empire. Some of the maps were given as presents during George III’s reign.
George was fascinated by books too and believed he should have a library worthy of a king. He started his collection of books in 1765 and spent the rest of his life adding to it. His collection is now looked after by the British Library.
It was one of the largest libraries in Europe by the king’s death. It contains nearly 64,000 printed books, 14,000 pamphlets, and manuscripts on subjects including history, geography, agriculture, military strategy, and literature in many European languages.
You can see the king’s library if you visit the British Library in London today.
