An exceptionally rare folding map of Shanghai and its environs, focusing on the canals and waterways. Names are given in English and Chinese with an explanation of the English pronunciation provided beneath the map's title.
This map was compiled by the Irish-born engineer Thomas James Waters, possibly in a bid to win a commission to overhaul Shanghai's waterways. Waters had worked for decades in Japan on behalf of the Meiji government, designing and constructing numerous prestigious buildings in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kagoshima. He was responsible for the Imperial Japanese Mint in Osaka, the headquarters for the Imperial Japanese Army in Tokyo, and the total rebuilding of the Ginza District of Tokyo after a fire in 1872. After leaving Japan in 1878, Waters worked for a few years in Shanghai without much success before moving to New Zealand, and later to the United States, to work as a mining engineer. It was during his brief period in Shanghai that this map would have been produced.
Original colour. [SL]