[WALL MAP OF THE RAILWAYS, POSTAL ROADS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE] Karta parokhodnikh' soovshesnii jel'znikh i pochtovikh' dorog' Rossiiskoi Imperii.; Aziiatskaia Rossiia Sibir' i Turkestanski Krai. [= A map of railways and postal roads of the Russian Empire]

Published by A[LEXEI] A[FINOGENOVICH] ILYIN, (1832-1889)., A. A. Ilyin's Cartographic Establishment, St. Petersburg, 1889.

Original chromolithographed map on cloth, dissected into 32 sections, and laid on linen as originally issued. Folded. A clear and very good copy. Large double elephant folio. (124 x 84 cm). In Russian. Scale: 1,200,000.

A large-format and highly detailed rare wall map detailing the transportation networks within Russia during the late-1880s, the authoritative map by the firm of A. Ilyin, then Russia's foremost producer of Russian Cartography.

The bottom of the map features a large inset detailing the neighborhoods of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and Asiatic Russia with Turkestan borders. The main map embraces European Russia, while detailed insets depict: the lands to the east of the Caspian Sea (today in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), the Vladivostok region (in the Russian Far East), the environs of St. Petersburg, the Moscow region, the lands south of the Caspian (while part of Persia, this region was under the political influence of Russia). Rostov-on-Don, the city of Moscow (in focus), Warsaw (part of the Russian empire since 1795). The 1880s marked a transformative period in the development and modernization of Russia.

Karta parokhodnikh' soovshesnii jel'znikh i pochtovikh' dorog' Rossiiskoi Imperii. [= A map of steamship wagons of rail and postal roads of the Russian Empire].; Aziiatskaia Rossiia Sibir' i Turkestanski Krai. [= Asian Russia, Siberia, and the Turkestan region]. Karta zakaspiiskoi jelznoi dorogi.; Guvernii charstva Polskago.

Territorial coverage: European Russia, Eastern Europe, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Arctic Ocean.

The publisher of the map, the Cartographic Establishment of A. Ilyin was founded in 1859 by the General Staff officers Alexey Afinogenovich Ilyin (1832-1889) and Vladimir Poltoratsky (1830-1886). The firm was originally known as the Chromolithography of Poltoratsky, Ilyin, and Co., but after Poltoratsky's departure in 1864, its name was changed to solely reflect Ilyin's stewardship. Alexey Ilyin served as a cartographer for the Military Topographic Depot of the General Staff and was eventually promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General. He thus had privileged access to government map archives, granting him a great competitive edge over his rivals. After the death of Alexey Afinogenovich, one of his sons, Alexey Alexeevich Ilyin (1857-1942) assumed control over the firm. By 1882, the enterprise reached its zenith, producing up to 6 million impressions, accounting for around 90% of all civilian cartographic products published in Russia. The company prospered until it was nationalized following the Communist Revolution of 1917. This map is the most detailed and accurate record of the transportation system as it existed in Russia in the mid-1890s and is, therefore, a key primary document relating to a critical period not only in Russian history but in the history of geopolitics throughout Eurasia. Ilyin issued the map for use by government agencies, transport contractors, and large commercial concerns. Examples of the map would have been mounted to walls of their offices and exposed to heavy use, and thus such large wall maps have a low survival rate. (Stanford Map Collection).

Not located outside Russian institutes and markets. A rare cartographic item.