The Empire Strikes Back

As 2009 draws to its inevitable conclusion it seems appropriate to mark the occasion by saving, in my opinion, the best ’till last. To stumble across something of interest in the Bartholomew Archive Printing Record is, in all honesty, almost inevitable. Items printed by Bartholomew can have a genuine cartographic value, they can have great […]

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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.

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Capturing sunshine

Contrary to popular belief, the gorgeous, sweltering, sunshiny weather that we have been hearing about ad nauseam recently was not universally enjoyed. Images of beaches ripe to overflowing and the sad laments of city commuters were the stuff of dreams for those of us suffering torrential rain, blankets of cloud and “nothing to write home […]

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Keeping things in proportion

Inspired by an item I’ve recently discovered in the Bartholomew Archive Printing Record the time has come for me to stop glossing over some of the more complicated intricacies of maps and to tackle the art of scale. For those in the know, this is a simple and effective system to communicate the levels of […]

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Bartholomew Down Under

As might be expected, a firm as influential as Bartholomew had a sphere of influence well beyond the four walls of their own premises. The correspondence alone that Bartholomew daily received runs the gamut, from Barbados to Kuwait and beyond. But by no means was this an unreciprocated affair. Generations of Bartholomew have travelled the […]

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Edinburgh International Exhibition

In 1886, Prince Albert officially opened the International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art, a sensational spectacle, held at the Meadows, Edinburgh. One or two artefacts in the Bartholomew Archive Printing Record and an excellent account by J K Gillon, hosted by Fortunecity reveal something of the excitement of this impressive extravaganza.

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