I have a tendency to shudder at the mere thought of advertising. The idea of television programmes which tantalisingly countdown the top 100 adverts fill me with dread, on many levels. Can something so inherently awful ever be beautiful? Of course, it turns out that the answer is yes. Until now this blog has focused […]
Category: Illustrations and photographs
Blinded by the light
This item, from the Bartholomew Archive Printing Record, is a stark contrast to and visually unique from anything else that I have found. It pre-dates Piet Mondrian’s self styled Neo-Plasticism by a good 25 years and whilst you could be forgiven for thinking it was a work of art, as it happens, this is science.
Edinburgh Waverley and the North British Railway
Try as one might, it is impossible to escape the vast quantities of railway related material in the Bartholomew Archive Printing Record. With commissions from the North British, Caledonian and London & North Western Railways, to name but a few, Bartholomew were certainly kept busy by the needs of the railways. In fact, for those […]
Symbolism of the Free Gardeners of Scotland
The intriguing, and now all but defunct, Free Gardeners of Scotland enjoyed a brief but fruitful association with Bartholomew during the 1880’s. The material that was produced for them is beautiful, complex and to me, utterly fascinating. I do of course realise that at the mention of such societies some of the images that leap to […]
John Thomas Smith and “The Mendicant Wanderers”
In 1817, John Thomas Smith (1766-1883) published a collection of portraits called “Vagabondiana or Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the Streets of London; with Portraits of the Most Remarkable”.
Beautiful botanical illustrations
Bartholomew are of course most famous for their maps. Occasionally, something in the Printing Record stands out because it’s an especially beautiful map. Occasionally something in the Printing Record stands out simply because it’s not a map. And occasionally something in the Printing Record stands out because it’s really special. To be fair, plants and […]
Ingredient, aftershave or none of the above?
The Bartholomew Archive is full of advertisements. Be it photographs from the 1920’s advertising Bartholomew maps, or posters advertising a brand of pen, the Bartholomew Archive has it all. One item that caught my eye recently was this poster for Rorrison’s Cattle Spice.