Historic Map : Burr Map of Southern Italy (Naples and Sicily), 1835, Vintage Wall Art

This is a good example of David H. Burr's 1835 first edition map of southern Italy and Sicily. It covers the Kingdom of Naples (a common reference for the 'Kingdom of the Two Sicilies') which extended from the Papal States south to include all of Sicily. An inset along the left border details the Island of Sardinia. Towns, rivers, mountains, roads and various other important topographical details are noted. Elevation throughout is rendered by hachure and political and territorial boundaries are color-coded.
br> This map predates the Italian solidarity movement. The Kingdom of Naples was the richest and largest Italian state before the Italian unification. Following the defeat of Napoleon and the merging of Sicily and Naples into the Two Sicilies, the Island of Sicily witnessed revolts against the Bourbon rule in 1820 and 1848. The final revolution in 1848 resulted in the island gaining independence from Bourbon control for 16 months. This period thus also saw the birth of the ‘La Giovine Italia' Italian solidarity movement. In 1830 a series of insurrections throughout Italy lead to the adoption of the Tricolore and nearly established a united Italian state. Unfortunately, in 1831, Pope Gregory in xVI invited the Austrian army to help crush the insurrections, postponing the push for Italian solidarity until the Revolutions of 1848.

According to Ristow, although Burr is credited on the title page, he left this atlas incomplete. He was appointed as topographer to the U.S. Post Office, and of the siin xty-three maps finally included in this atlas, only completed eight. The rest of the maps were then completed by Illman and Pilbrow in Burr's style. This map was ‘Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1835 by Thomas Illman in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York'. Published by D. S. Stone in Burr's New Universal Atlas.