Telephone: 01598 763531 | 07890 438890
Email: info@jeremysbooks.co.uk
Vintage, antiquarian, collectable books, maps, cigarette and tea cards
Email: info@jeremysbooks.co.uk
Vintage, antiquarian, collectable books, maps, cigarette and tea cards
Our stocks include some very unusual maps...
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As well as being purchased for reasons of family research, nostalgia and for general use many of our maps are destined for collectors or those with specialist interest, such as local history, genealogy or cartographers. Always in stock at Jeremy’s Books of Southampton, England, are good numbers of maps from The Ordnance Survey, Bartholomew, Johnson and Bacon, Geographia and some interesting and scarce examples from other publishers such as Walker, Philips, and Gall & Inglis.
Our stocks include some very unusual maps, including early railways maps from Canada, Australia and South Africa and some wonderful examples of folding maps from all over the world, including this fine map of Trinidad (pictured left), published in 1905 by Muir, Marshall & Co.,Port of Spain.
At any one time, we have good stocks of vintage/antique OS (Ordnance Survey) one-inch maps from 1880 to 1930 covering most of England and Wales, mostly in the ‘Popular Edition’ series. We also have a number of earlier maps at various scales as well as good stocks of later ‘Popular Edition’, ‘Seventh Series’ and ‘Landranger’ maps.
Our stocks of 1:25000 maps include a good number of ‘Provisional’, ‘First Series’ and ‘Pathfinder’ and some ‘Outdoor Leisure’. Bartholomew maps, mainly at half-inch scale, are always popular and we usually stock good numbers of these from the 1900’s to the 1960’s. Bartholomew are also known for their early town plans as well as their world-wide series and we usually have a number of interesting examples on sale.
We understand that for many of our customers, it is not enough simply to know the series, sheet number, name and approximate condition of the map and so our descriptions include, where known, the latest revision date and, where given, the print code as well as a condition report indicating any specific flaws.
Condition:
ebay condition categories (New, Like New, Very Good, Good, Acceptable) are woefully inadequate and so our main means of conveying condition to the buyer is through the ‘Condition’ description, where we do our best to give a good indication of what the buyer can expect. We do our best ot be honest and accurate but when we occasionally get it wrong (after a long day’s listing things start to blur a little sometimes) we will always give a full refund, including return postage where applicable.
Click on any image to enlarge
Map Dates:
Ordnance Survey: The date we include in the title is usually the last revision date of the specific example being sold. OS maps often have a ‘printed’ or ‘published’ date which may be some years later (and sometimes earlier) than the revision date. The OS often used up stocks of covers on new editions so that the covers didn’t always meet expectations of the map inside. On later maps we also usually include the revision code in the description. All OS maps have a date on them somewhere. Here is a typical example of the date and revision information on an Ordnance Survey Popular Edition map from the early 20th Century
The relevant revision for the Popular Edition map is the ‘3rd Revision’, which in this case was carried out ‘1914-9’. Although it says ‘Printed at The Ordnance Survey Office, Southampon, 1920’ you can see that there are subsequent references to: ‘Minor corrections 1931’, railways inserted to 1926 and ‘Roads revised to 11-31’. There are also reprint dates, giving the quantity and year of each reprint. This level of detail can be invaluable information for the railway enthusiast and for the general researcher. In the title of this map, which is sheet 117, East Kent, we give the date as 1931 as this is the last date at which changes to the map were made. But we also include all the other dates, including reprint details, in the description so that the researcher and collector alike can see exactly what is on offer.
Bartholomew and Geographia: Prior to around 1945 Bartholomew maps included a code, usually in the top left corner, which indicates the year of publication. For example A34 would indicate publication in the first half of 1934 and B28 would indicate the second half of 1928. From 1945 onwards Bartholomew’s maps invariably have the date printed on them, usually along the bottom somewhere. Geographia (and some other publishers) usually used what is known as the CUMBERLAND code, where the letters correspond to the numbers 1-0.
The illustration (left) shows the bottom corner of a map of Huddersfield by Geographia with the code CC.BL and so this map was November 1947.
Overseas maps: European maps almost always have a date on them somewhere and they are not usually coded, although you might have to look for a number printed faintly in one corner as 3/35, for example, might be all you get.
Undated continental and other maps from around the world use various methods of research – see below
Other and Undated maps: Without detailing all the possible indicators, there are many ways to arrive at a date for a map which has a different or no code or no date printed on it. Where our resources and/or research bring us to a reasonably sure conclusion we will include the date we have arrived at. Where we cannot be certain but have a reasonable idea, we will indicate that the date given is ‘approx’.
© Copyright. Jeremy Stampfer, Jeremy’s Books, Southampton, England.