Thomas Brown (1764 – 1820)
was an Edinburgh based bookseller, publisher and originally an engraver. His maps are uncommon.
Nothing is known about his private life.
Map Details
This map was published in „A General Atlas Being a Collection of the World & Quarters, the Various Empires, Kingdoms & States &c. in the Known World around 1808; some maps were engraved and first issued individually.
It shows Scandinavia and Iceland in a pentagonal inset in the upper left corner. The nicely decorated title cartouche in the lower right corner also mentions the cartographer and the publisher. Underneath is a mileage scale. A compass rose is placed in the North Sea.
Scandinavia is drawn rather detailed but outside the eastern and southern border line only the names of the countries are written: Russia, Russia (now Baltic States), Prussia and Germany. The Arctic Circle is depicted in Scandinavia quite correctly and in Iceland to far south.
„Iceland“ is written above the Arctic Circle. There are some mountain ranges but only a few place-names, amongst them Mt. Hekla and the bishoprics Skalholt and Holar. The island Grimsey is completely missing.