Maria Ann Harvey (1797-1893) was the sister of the Anglo-American artist George Harvey (1800-1878), of Regents Park. The Harvey family were natives of Tottenham, where Maria Ann married Timothy Baxter (of St. Giles, Camberwell) on October 25, 1815.

For a study of cartographic samplers, see: Tyner, Judith A. Stitching the world: embroidered maps and women's geographical education. Farnham : Ashgate, 2015. The area of geographic coverage in the Maria Ann Harvey sampler described here is identical to the samplers depicted in Tyner's plates 1 and 5, by Anne Rhodes (1780) and Margaret Jermyn (1787), respectively. The level of detail in the present map is the same as that in the map by Rhodes. Tyner notes that a number of map samplers produced in Tottenham feature a distinctive urn in the upper-left corner, but no urn is present in the map by Harvey.

The map delineates and names 13 counties of Wales and 39 counties of England, the borders of which are embroidered in silks of alternating colors. Harvey also provides the names of selected cities. For the areas surrounding England and Wales, Harvey provides general geographic outlines, and names seas, cities, counties, and regions. Fourteen small embroidered ships dot the seas. The title is given at upper right, within a cartouche in the form of a garland, made from silk threads of multiple colors. Harvey frames the mapped image within traditional cartographic neat lines (also embroidered), marked with degrees of latitude and longitude.

Possible printed sources for Harvey's map include Emmanuel Bowen's An accurate map of England and Wales laid down from the best authorities, or Emmanuel and Thomas Bowen's A new and accurate map of England and Wales, published in Middleton's Complete system of geography (1778).

Cartography > Study and teaching.

Geography > Study and teaching.

Women > Education > Great Britain.

Maps.

Embroidery (visual works)

Samplers (embroidery)

Children's art.

Textiles.