“A Handsome & Workmanlike Manner”: Engraving the Map of Virginia

How was Virginia’s nine-sheet map, drafted from manuscript surveys, transformed into this elegant engraving? It was a time-consuming process that involved oversight and coordination of the work by craftsmen well-trained in the art of engraving.  After the death of John Wood in May 1822, Herman Bőÿe became the principal surveyor of the map project. In his November 1822 contract with Governor Thomas M. Randolph, Bőÿe agreed to complete the work of surveying Virginia’s counties and compiling those surveys into a complete draft manuscript map. Although the contract noted an April 1824 deadline, Bőÿe soon asked for and received an extension of one year to complete the manuscript map and to identify engraving firms that would transform the manuscript into published form.  

The possibility of engraving and publishing the large map of Virginia drew the attention of leading engravers who worked in the Baltimore and Philadelphia area, such as Fielding Lucas Jr., William Harrison, James H. Young, and Edward B. Dawson. Their bids varied slightly from $4,000 to $5,000 and their estimates to complete the work ranged from twelve to fifteen months. The plan was for the map to be engraved, printed, colored, varnished, and mounted onto a fabric backing. Based on the size of the map—it measured 99 x 64 inches, or 44 sq. ft.— Bőÿe estimated it would cost $5,923 to engrave.¹ To oversee the work, he would receive an additional $1,000. Once the engraving was completed, printing one map would cost $8.70.

• Paper: $1.50 
• Printing: $1.25 
• Varnishing: $1.25 
• Canvass & Pasting: $2.20 
• Roller & Tape: $0.50 
• Coloring: $2.00

The General Assembly appropriated funds to print 400 copies of the map, including 200 to be sold for $20 each.

To engrave the map of Virginia, Bőÿe recommended the Tanner firm of Philadelphia. Benjamin Tanner had worked on the 1822 map of Pennsylvania that was published by John Melish, a six-plate map with a pictorial vignette and statistical tables. By 1823 Henry Tanner had engraved and published the highly successful New American Atlas. Benjamin bid on the Virginia project, writing that he could engrave the map “in a handsome & workmanlike manner” for $5,000 but thought the work would take between eighteen months and two years “to do justice to the employees and credit to the engraver…as a work of this kind ought not to be hurried and a few months more or less can be no object.”² Tanner noted that, although the first estimate for the Pennsylvania map had been $3,500, ultimately the cost rose to $4,435.

Henry S. Tanner was awarded the contract, dated June 3, 1825, “to engrave, or cause to be engraved, on Copper, a nine-sheet map of the state of Virginia, including two Vignettes and the Title not laid down on the drawing of the said map, in his very best style.”³ He had one year to complete the engraving for a cost of $4,500. Tanner and his brother Benjamin executed a bond of $9,000 as a promise to meet the deadline.⁴ Tanner proposed that the work be accomplished in four phases: planwork (consisting of seacoast, rivers, lakes, towns), the lettering, the etching of vignettes and mountains, and the shading of the water.

Engraving and printing the map was labor-intensive and time-consuming. Edward Hazen, in his Panorama of Professions and Trades (1837), described the process that Tanner likely used. The plate was heated so that beeswax applied to the surface was distributed evenly in a thin layer. As it cooled, the section of the map for that plate was placed face down onto the plate and rubbed to transfer the graphite lines onto the wax to produce the image in reverse.

The engraver then placed the plate onto a pillow or sandbag and, turning the plate, used his burin to cut the design. When finished, an inker dabbed ink onto the plate and, using his hand, rubbed the ink into the cut lines before wiping the plate with a cloth. Dampened paper was applied to the plate and the whole was placed on a press to push the paper into the engraving.

Both Tanner brothers engraved some of the plates, but with the amount of engraving involved and the deadline, they may have subcontracted portions of the work. Benjamin had engraved the vignettes for the map of Pennsylvania, and he engraved the view of Richmond and, possibly, the title plate of the Virginia map. James W. Steel engraved the view of the University of Virginia based on a drawing by Ennion Williams, a surveyor and artist. Drawings for the two vignettes were not with the manuscript map delivered by Bőÿe but, according to the terms of the contract, were to be included. In a December 1822 letter to Bőÿe, Williams wrote that “my time has been employed partly in taking perspective views of the University and the Scenery around it.”⁵

Henry Tanner completed all the work within the contracted one year and sent a set of three proofs to the governor for review. A Richmond Enquirer article reprinted in the June 3, 1826 issue of the Virginia Herald praised both Tanner and Bőÿe: “The execution does as much as credit for Mr. T. as the composition does to Mr. Boye.”⁶ The writer noted that the plates were insured for $7,000 and that the General Assembly now needed to appropriate funds for printing the map for distribution.

For a step-by-step demonstration of engraving techniques, visit the Metropolitan Museum website.