Stieler’s Hand-Atlas: how a German folio reshaped cartographic taste, 1816–1945

Adolf Stieler’s Hand-Atlas, formally Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude. Is a landmark project in nineteenth-century cartography publishing. It is widely recognized for its impact. Born in the workshops of Justus Perthes in Gotha, it started as a compact subscription atlas. It then evolved into a multivolume, multilingual reference. This set standards for mapmaking, terrain depiction, typography and editorial rigour across Europe. This post traces how the Hand-Atlas became influential through its successive editions. It provides the generally accepted publication years and map counts for each major edition. Additionally, it highlights the artistic and technical choices. These choices made the atlas both a scientific reference and a work of book-art.

A short timeline: editions, years and map counts

Nineteenth-century atlases were often issued in parts and revised incrementally; the Stieler is no exception. Sources vary slightly in exact year ranges. This is because plates and supplements were supplied over months or years. Yet, the following summary reflects the standard scholarly account. It also considers the material evidence held in map collections and publisher records.

Preliminary / earliest plates (1816–1833 / 1817–1823). Initial plates were produced jointly by Adolf Stieler and Christian Gottlieb Reichard. These plates were issued in parts. The project often cites 1816–1817 as the starting period. Plates continued through the early 1820s. Early runs contained some dozens of engraved maps (commonly 47–50 plates in the earliest issue), later extended by supplements.
First “comprehensive” Stieler (commonly cited 1834–1845). After Stieler’s death (1836), the work continued. It was stabilized into a more fixed first edition. Counts vary with supplements, but the comprehensive first edition is often given with roughly 75–83 maps in the completed set.
Second edition (c. 1845–1852). The atlas expanded; later nineteenth-century bibliographies record about 83 maps for this phase.
Third edition (c. 1853–1862). Continued updates to geography and content; map counts around 83–84.
Fourth edition (c. 1863–1867). Approximately 84 maps; a period when Perthes and its editors began standardizing scale choices and cartographic conventions across the series.
Fifth edition (c. 1868–1874). Still ~84 maps; engraved on steel or copper and often hand-coloured.
Sixth edition (1871–1875). A turning point occurred when editors August Petermann, Hermann Berghaus, and Carl Vogel raised scientific standards. They improved the representation of relief. This edition is commonly cited with 90 maps. It is often credited with creating the “classic” Stieler look.
Seventh edition (c. 1879–1882). Enlarged and reworked; roughly 95 maps in the later nineteenth-century pattern.
Eighth edition (c. 1888–1891). About 95 maps; still using a mix of engraved plates and early lithographic techniques for some sheets. Many editions were supplied as monthly parts (the 8th is documented as being issued in 32 monthly parts).
Ninth edition (1901–1905). Marked technological change: the ninth was the first printed on cylinder lithographic presses, increasing production efficiency and lowering unit price. It includes c. 100 maps and explicitly broadened distribution through English translations and use of some plates in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Tenth (centenary) edition (1920–1925; continued revisions into the 1940s). Hermann Haack edited this “Hundertjahr-Ausgabe.” It grew to ~108 maps. An index was included with some 320,000 entries. This made it one of the most comprehensive world atlases of the era. The tenth edition continued to be revised into the Second World War years. This included war-time “Kriegsausgaben” and later international impressions. An international edition issued 1934–1940 remained incomplete due to wartime disruption.

(Note: exact start and completion years for the earliest editions and the dates of supplements differ slightly between bibliographies and surviving sets; the year ranges above follow standard references and primary documents in major map collections.)

Printing quantities: the frustratingly rare bookkeeper’s detail

Scholars and dealers often ask about how many copies of each “Stieler” edition were printed. Reliable, edition-level print-run figures are rarely published for nineteenth-century atlases. Surviving publisher business ledgers are scattered or unpublished. The Justus Perthes archives are now preserved in research collections. One example is the Perthes/University of Erfurt holdings. These archives contain extensive business records and plate inventories. They are the best place to seek precise print numbers. Yet, those figures are not widely summarized in secondary literature accessible to general readers.

What is documented in the published record is the change in production technology and price. For example, the switch to cylinder lithography with the ninth edition substantially reduced costs. This change made the atlas affordable to a wider public. It strongly implies larger print runs and broader circulation, even if an exact count is not quoted in trade-bibliographic sources. In short: if you need hard copy counts for a specific edition, the Perthes business archive is the authoritative source. Most published references stop at plate counts, issue dates, and descriptive bibliographic data.

What made the Stieler‘s Hand-Atlas distinctive, artistic and technical features

The Hand-Atlas succeeded by combining scientific currency with a visual language. This approach made maps intelligible and convincing. Crucially, it also made them beautiful. Several interlocking features deserve attention.

1. The “plastic” relief: hachures, shading and careful modeling of Stieler’s Hand-Atlas

By the mid-nineteenth century Stieler’s Hand-Atlas had adopted a relief style. German sources call this style plastische Geländedarstellung. It is a highly modeled representation of terrain. Finely executed hachures and shading suggest slopes, ridges and valleys. The look is neither crude pictorial hill-profiles nor flat hypsometric bands. Instead, it features a carefully generalized hillshade. This is achieved with engraved hachures and tonal modeling. Together, they lend the map a sculptural depth on the printed sheet. The sixth edition is often singled out as the point at which this relief treatment reached its classical maturity.

2. High-quality engraving and hand coloring (then lithography)

For much of the nineteenth century the Stieler was produced from copper or steel engraved plates. These were printed and then hand-tinted to neat outline conventions. Even when lithography became available, the Perthes firm used a mix of techniques. They preserved the finest engraved sheets where necessary. Finally, they adopted cylinder lithography with the ninth edition to allow economical, consistent color printing at scale. Hundreds of engraved plates have survived. Over 400 plates are associated with the series. This is testimony both to the durability of the craft and Perthes’ investment in long-running, updatable plates.

3. Elegant graphic design: type, insets and scale choices

Stieler maps are notable for their clear typographic hierarchy. They use insets in a balanced way for regions of interest. They also have sensible, repeatable scale choices across sheets. The editors aimed for “gleichförmigkeit der Projektion und des Maßstabs” (uniform projection and scale choice). This allowed adjacent sheets to be compared easily. School teachers, military users, and scholars greatly appreciated this feature. In many sheets the cartouches treatments are restrained; decoration recedes behind the primacy of legible place-names and precise coastlines.

4. The mix of thematic and physical content: celestial and terrestrial

Beyond continental and regional maps, Stieler’s Hand-Atlas often included celestial charts and polar projections. It also featured oceanographic and wind diagrams and even lunar charts in some editions. This variety represented a broad conception of “world-building.” It linked physical geography, exploration reports, and scientific cartography within a single publishing vehicle. This breadth helped the atlas serve both scholarly reference and advanced teaching.

5. Stieler’s Hand-Atlas Editorial rigor and continuous revision

A succession of editors worked diligently to keep the atlas current. These included Stieler himself, Friedrich von Stülpnagel, August Petermann, Hermann Berghaus, Hermann Habenicht, and finally Hermann Haack. They ensured it was updated with the latest exploration reports. It also included colonial boundary changes and advances in topographic knowledge. That editorial chain was vital. Perthes’ commitment to plate preservation and revision was crucial. These factors meant Stieler maps were updated without wholly re-engraving sheets. This advantage kept the atlas authoritative for decades.

Influence, translations and legacy of Stieler’s Hand-Atlas

Two factors magnified the Hand-Atlas’s influence beyond the German speaking world.

First, English and other language conversions of the major later editions (notably the ninth and tenth) were translated. These translations exported the maps to British and American markets. Plates or translations of plates appeared in the Encyclopedia Britannica. They also appeared in stand-alone “Stieler’s Atlas of Modern Geography” editions. Second, the atlas became a standard of comparison. Competing atlases, like Meyer, Johnston, and Bartholomew, were measured against Stieler’s Hand-Atlas relief modeling. Its typography and up-to-date coverage set the bar. By the early twentieth century, Stieler had become the “scientific figurehead” of the Perthes list. He was also an exemplar for technical cartography across Europe.

Today Stieler’s Hand-Atlas survives in libraries and private collections. It is also preserved as digitized plates in online map libraries. Examples include the David Rumsey collection and various European institutional repositories. The Justus Perthes archives are now housed with the University of Erfurt. Related Gotha collections preserve plates, proofs and business records. These records document the production history. They offer a rich resource for anyone wishing to dig deeper into print runs, plate revisions and editorial correspondence.

Closing thoughts, why Stieler’ Hand-Atlas still matters to cartographers and designers

If you teach cartography or study historic map aesthetics, the Hand-Atlas rewards both close and comparative reading. It’s a laboratory of nineteenth-century cartographic problem solving. There is the challenge of how to make relief legible at small scale. Another problem is how to harmonize type with engraved linework. It also includes how to keep plates current while controlling cost. Lastly, it explains how to show a global image of the world. This image is scientifically credible. This occurs during an era of accelerating exploration and political change.

Stieler’s Hand-Atlas is technically sound and artistically assured. It is not merely a relic. It shaped the conventions, from hypsometric tinting and hachured modeling to scale standardization. These conventions informed twentieth-century map design. For historians, designers, and practicing cartographers, it is an indispensable case study. It showcases the marriage of craft, editorial policy, and printing technology.

Selected sources and further reading

English and German Wikipedia entries on Stielers Hand-Atlas (good quick reference for edition dates and map counts).
David Rumsey Map Collection — digitized Stieler plates and publication data for nineteenth-century editions.
Atlaseum and atlases dealers’ bibliographies for plate counts, edition notes and physical descriptions of surviving copies.
Background on Perthes publishing history and the Perthes archives at University of Erfurt (where business records and plates are preserved).

Inside Stieler’s Hand-Atlas: The Revolutionary Maps That Transformed Global Geography