SIBORNE, William.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Plans and Maps to the History of the Waterloo Campaign. First edition of this commercially scarce series of maps, published to accompany Siborne's painstakingly researched account of the battle. A recognised authority on surveying and plan-drawing, having published widely on the subject, Siborne was commissioned in 1830 to produce a minutely accurate scale model of the field of Waterloo."He lived for eight months at the farm of La Haye-Sainte on the field of battle, and made a survey of the whole ground, upon which he based his model … In 1833 the progress of the work was interrupted by the refusal of the new ministry to allot funds for it. Thrown upon his own resources he continued the work until its completion in 1838, at a cost of nearly £3,000" (ODNB). The model stirred controversy, revealing as it did the vital intervention of Blücher's 48,000 Prussians; Wellington pointedly absented himself from the exhibition at the Egyptian Hall, and Siborne failed to recoup costs.The maps were engraved by Alfred Robert Freebairn using John Bate's anaglyptograph device, which was a development of the ruling machine, converting objects with raised surfaces, such as coins, medals, and reliefs, into patterns of printed lines which suggest the contours of the original. This process was applied to Siborne's modelling of the ground and produced the most remarkable contour maps of the field.Provenance: C. T. C. Luxmoore (1793-1863), with his attractive octagonal military bookplate. Charles T

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