1750 - 1823
Born in Durham, Arrowsmith arrived in London around 1770 and found work as a surveyor with the well-known cartographer John Cary. He carried out some of the road surveys for "Cary's Traveller's Companion" which was published in 1790 and in the same year established his own business in Long Acre.
He specialised in producing large-scale individual maps containing the latest information from all parts of the world. He constantly revised and updated his work and it wasn't long before he gained an international reputation as a map specialist.
After his death the business was carried on by his sons Aaron and Samuel until around 1839 when his nephew John took over, maintaining the firm's reputation not least by becoming a founder member of the Royal Geographical Society. John Arrowsmith's 'London Atlas' was particularly highly regarded for the quality of the maps it contained of Australia, New Zealand and the Americas.
Altogether, the Arrowsmiths published over seven hundred maps and in doing so became one of the dominant London map publishing houses until about 1860.
Aaron Arrowsmith 1750 - 1823; Aaron Arrowsmith (son) fl. 1820-30; Samuel Arrowsmith (son) d 1839; John Arrowsmith (nephew) 1790-1873
Dictionary of map makers
An illustrated list of makers of maps, charts and globes from the earliest time of cartography to present.
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