Accurate, beautiful, clever, dangerous, exciting. Maps can be all of these things. They show us new places, help us re-imagine familiar haunts and even enable us to travel through time. A map is both a useful tool and a magic carpet to far-away places. In the cold winter months we can travel in our minds […]
Tag: bartholomew
Here comes the sun: a collection of postcards from the Maps Team
Holiday season is upon us; time to remember to send that postcard home! If you are either sending or receiving postcards, I think you will enjoy this light-hearted ramble though some of the Map Library’s Postcard collection. I have selected a few of the Geographical Series of Postcards (John Walker & Co 1903) to enrich […]
The Bartholomew Archive Project comes to an end
Today, we mark the end of six-years of work on the Bartholomew Archive, funded by the John R. Murray Charitable Trust. During this time the Trust have funded seven posts, all of which have targeted specific aspects of this internationally-significant collection of cartographic business papers, manuscript maps, copper plates, tools and oh so much more.
Bartholomew, Biscuits and the First World War
As the Project that brings you these posts is due to end in March of this year, I wanted to share with you, whilst I can, some of the more unexpected items I have found in the Printing Record from the First World War. Like many of us perhaps, my understanding of this brutal conflict […]
The Automobile Association Map of England and Wales
On the 25th August, 1939, John Bartholomew and Son printed 10,347 copies of their ‘Automobile Association Map of England and Wales’. As far as maps go, I think it’s fair to say it’s not exactly anything to write home about. Stripped away of any extraneous information, beyond the roads themselves, the strictly black and white […]
The International Map of the World
On the 31 March, 1910, Bartholomew printed a proof version of the ‘conventional signs and styles of type for the international map on the scale of 1:1,000,000′. But what exactly is the International Map of the World?
Bartholomew’s Large Plan of Edinburgh and Leith
In the summer of 1891, John Bartholomew & Co. launched a cartographic tour de force whose sheer magnificence continues to awe. Bartholomew’s Plan of the City of Edinburgh with Leith and Suburbs. Reduced from the Ordnance Survey and Revised to the Present Date by John Bartholomew, or the Large Plan of Edinburgh & Leith, as it’s more usually […]
Isolation in Thought
Upon the commencement of John George Bartholomew’s tenure as director of John Bartholomew & Co. in 1888, there is a marked tendency towards the cartographic. The riotous miscellany which characterised earlier times was replaced by better and better mapping. However, there are always exceptions to this rule, with the subject of this entry being just […]
Touring Scotland with the Caledonian Railway
As the railway grew, its initial functional nature was eventually surpassed by one of luxury. Mere journeys became holidays, trips became tours and the manner of getting there became just as important as getting there itself.
The Restless Life of Harry de Windt
On the 23 October 1903, Bartholomew printed 2,040 sheets of maps destined for publication in the latest work by Harry de Windt. Harry de who? I hear you ask. Well, one of the best things about the Printing Record is that the maps it contains can reveal interesting but often forgotten stories of people, places […]