Strip Map from Iflip to Lulfey, c.1700s, hand-coloured

Strip Map from Iflip to Lulfey, c.1700s, hand-coloured

This rare 18th-century strip map, depicting the route from Iflip to Lulfey, represents a characteristic example of early road mapping in the style popularised during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Strip maps of this period were designed to guide travellers along a single linear journey, presenting the road as a sequence of vertically aligned panels rather than a conventional geographic map. Each panel typically illustrates a segment of the route, showing turns, villages, bridges, rivers, and notable topographical features arranged in the order one would encounter them.

Executed in original or early hand-colouring, the map would have offered additional clarity and aesthetic appeal: route lines highlighted in red or ochre, settlements tinted for emphasis, and natural features lightly washed to distinguish terrain, waterways, and wooded areas. Such colouring not only enhanced readability but also reflected the map’s value as a practical travelling aid and collectible object.

Although the specific locations “Iflip” and “Lulfey” may represent historical or variant spellings of early place names, the map remains an important artifact of early cartographic practice. It exemplifies the transition from pictorial itineraries to more standardised road atlases, capturing the practical realities of overland travel in the 1700s and the evolving techniques of European mapmaking.