Ports of the World

Book excerpt: This book showcases some of the finest examples of The National Maritime Museum's collection of prints of ports from this period. Prints are analysed as commercial and art objects, rathers than as simple historical records of matters maritime. The aim is to address a broad audience, including general readers of eighteenth and nineteenth century British and colonial history, those interested in ports and maritime affairs, and those with an interest in prints themselves. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a period of enormous political and commercial development across the globe. Of particular importance was the revolution in transportation and communication by sea, with the concomitant growth in size and importance of the seaport. Despite growing awareness that the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a formative period in the development of maritime art, there has been relatively little exploration of maritime prints. This is extraordinary, since the period c.1700-1870 was a golden age of print production and saw the development of new forms of engraving such as aquatint and lithography, as well as the production of beautiful examples of line engraving and woodcut. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the establishment and expansion of major ports not just in Britain, but in continental Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and in North and South America. The National Maritime Museum, upon which collection this book is based, is at the centre of the preservation and display of Britain's maritime heritage. Its print collection reveals the firm link between art and commerce in the development of these ports.