George Washington Bacon & Co.

George Washington Bacon (fl.1869 - 1932) succeeded to the firm of John Wyld III c.1893 and proceeded to publish a vast variety of maps (including comic war maps in the 1870s). The firm still survives today with W & A K Johnston. Bacon´s output was vast and towards the end of the 1800s he was probbly the largest publisher of map material in the United Kingdom. Although G W Bacon published a large number of maps, including county maps, the majority were transfers taken from plates that he had bought up from auctions rather than maps that he had specially engraved. 

NOTE: Tourist type maps which portrayed the whole of the county of Devon in one or two sheets (.e.g. north and south Devon) are already well documented in The Printed Maps of Devon or in The Victorian Maps of Devon. For example, Bacon took over some of the stock of John Wyld after it had been acquired from William Faden and produced cycling and motoring maps from the plates engraved in 1799 well into the 20th century. These are listed in The Printed Maps entry 62 under Baker/Faden[1]. 

Bacon also acquired the plates of the Dispatch Atlas c.1869 after they had been used in Cassell's British Atlas from 1864 to c.1867 and published folding maps (Victorian Maps entry 136). 

In c.1885 a small pocket tourist guide to England and Wales appeared which included sectional maps of the country. The Handbook Of England And Wales (Victorian Maps entry 163) was a complete set of county descriptions averaging 10 pages to a county, with each county section being paginated separately.

Another small pocket tourist Guide to North Cornwall, published by W Weighell of Launceston, appeared in 1889 which included a map of all of Cornwall together with all of Devon. Although a guide to North Cornwall (referring to the coast as far south as Newquay), many places in Devon are included such as Bideford, Barnstaple etc. (Victorian Maps entry 165A). 

The following Bacon maps are listed here for the first time:

Maps from the New Ordnance Atlas Of The British Isles (see below) including a short overview of the Waistcoat Pocket maps 

Plan of Plymouth also from the New Ordnance Atlas Of The British Isles - click here

Area maps from an unidentified source - click here

Maps of the Environs of Plymouth - click here

Map of Plymouth - click here

Bacon 1 - New Ordnance Atlas Of The British Isles

In 1883, although already publishing a successful atlas, George Washington Bacon published a new atlas – New Ordnance Atlas Of The British Isles – which contained 34 sheets of assorted maps. There was an index map of the British Isles, 16 sheets of regional maps of the British Isles and a further 17 sheets of maps of various cities and conurbations. There are three sectional maps which cover Devon and plans of Exeter and Plymouth (see below). The publication of this atlas coincided with sales of the similarly titled New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas Of The British Isles which was made up of the maps produced by Weller for the Weekly Despatch (originally published in parts and as an atlas in 1863, B&B 136). Why Bacon chose to produce two competing atlases is a mystery.

Although not strictly tourist maps they are important as being the original basis for the later Waistcoat Pocket series of maps (see below under Later Derivatives).

 Each (of three sheets) has no title and is a regional map of the southwest. The sheet number is printed in woodblock (9, 10 or 12, EaOS). No imprints or signatures. Each map has note on Adjoining Sheet in each margin, is graticuled and a scale bar (AeOS) - SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES (25 = 130 mm). Size of each sheet is 520 x 540 mm.         

Bacon 1a

 Sheet 9. Covers area south and east of Fishguard in Pembroke and just includes Exeter and Chudleigh. Inset of Lundy. 

 Bacon 1b

 Sheet 10. Covers area south and east of Brecon in Brecknock and includes everything east of Exmouth to Chichester.

 Bacon 1c

 Sheet 12. Sheet is divided into two halves. Upper half has map of South Devon and South Cornwall. Covers area east of Lands End in Cornwall and includes everything south and west of Dawlish. Lower half of sheet is Channel Islands. 

 Bacon 1d

 Size: 115 x 170 mm.  Scale (10 = 93 mm) Miles.

 Sheet 34. Sheet is divided into 13 town and city plans. One plan (Ad) is EXETER &c. Title above map. Covers area south and east of Brandirons and includes everything west and north of Exmouth.          

                                                                                                                  

Bacon 1e

 Size: 178 x 142 mm. Scale (10 = 93 mm) Miles.

 Sheet 34. Sheet is divided into 13 town and city plans. One plan is PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT &c. Title above map. Covers area south and east of Stoke Climsland and includes everything west and north of Revelstoke.

1. 1883  New Ordnance Atlas Of The British Isles  London. George W Bacon. 1883.  [PRO], KB.

At the beginning of the twentieth century and before Bacon moved to new premises in Fetter Lane (circa 1910) he was selling two other maps of the Plymouth area. Bacon’s Map of the Environs of Plymouth covered an area from West Looe to Thurlestone and inland to Tavistock (4 Miles to 90 mm) while Bacon’s Large Scale Plan of Plymouth Devonport and Stonehouse covered only the three towns at 6 inches to the mile. These have been added under Bacon 4 despite being later productions.

Later derivatives - Bacon´s Waistcoat Pocket Series

Bacon's Road Map of England was very successful and there were frequent reissues

 The New Ordnance Atlas was soon taken off the market (only one edition is known) and Bacon persevered with the Large Scale Ordnance Atlas until the end of the century under various titles (Bacon 2 included a map of Plymouth from this atlas). Nonetheless, Bacon continued to use the plates produced for his New Ordnance Atlas and a short time later Bacon's Road Map of England in Seven Sheets appeared. Sheet 7 of this publication covered the whole of the westcountry, covering the area from Wootton Bassett in the north to Christchurh and west as far as Falmouth, with an inset map having the continuation of Cornwall and also including a little of the South wales coast. The sheets were sold as folding maps  on cotton in slipcases or laid down on linen as folding maps in covers c.1887 and were certainly on sale before the end of the century. 

These have been seen in a variety of covers and in back and white with main roads in yellow or orange or in red and also with sea shaded blue with roads in yellow or red. Some have concentric circles radiating from each of the main cities. As Sheet 7 covers an area larger than the county (or county plus one other), it has not been included separately, but it is important for the derivatives sold as Waistcoat Pocket maps.

Sections were also taken to produce county maps; however, all county map derivatives of Devon so far seen have railways post-1900. The folding maps for cyclists and motorists described below, were taken from these plates to make county maps which were advertised as Bacon's Waistcoat-pocket Maps (they folded small enough to fit a breast pocket) and were also made available to local retailers to have their details added (see Bideford, below). Transfers were also taken from the north coast to prepare a map for Twiss of Ilfracombe (see Twiss 1).

Nearly all the maps listed below have the title Bacon´s Cycling & Motoring Map of .... District on the front cover and the map has no title. However, on the back cover they are listed as Bacon´s New Series of Waistcoat Pocket Road-Maps (or similar).  Typical size of sheet: 350 x 465 mm. Typical size of covers: 90 x 135 mm. Unless otherwise stated all maps show same area: from Boscastle in west to Axbridge and Bridport in east with plain border broken for St Austell. Inset (Ee) shows the south continuation below Modbury. 

1. Circa 1903. Imprints: Copyright (AeOS) and G W Bacon & Co., Ltd., 127 Strand, London (EeOS and on cover). Railways present: to Yealmpton, Bude, Lynton (all c.1898) and the post-1903 lines Budleigh Salterton-Exmouth, Ashton-Exeter and Bideford-Appledore. Price on front cover 6d. Three-page insert with an advert for Chlorodyne and the list (inside) has 71 titles but not Plymouth. Plain back. Scale of English Miles  (20 = 100 mm) below border with other notes on Main Roads, railways, 10 mile squares, distances from London and imprint. Map in colour. 

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Exeter District ...          KB.

 

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Barnstaple District ...

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Plymouth District ... ...     KB.

    

 

2. Circa 1903. Price 6d but has advert for Triumph cycles on back cover,

 

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Plymouth District ... ...     KB.

  

3. Circa 1910 or later. Map is essentially as above but in black and white with red roads. All information below map border retained. New imprints: Copyright (AeOS) and G W Bacon & Co., Ltd., Norwich Street, Fetter lane, E.C.4. (EeOS and on cover). No insert, maps listed on back cover: 94 titles listed with Plymouth, Barnstaple and Exeter, but Torquay, Teignmouth  and Ilfracombe not incuded. Price now 9d.

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of  Teignmouth District ... ...  KB. 

4. Circa 1910 or later. As above, black and white with red roads. Imprints as before but printer´s number added to Copyright, e.g. (2351). Scale and notes previously below map moved to area top left. Scale now 1 inch = 5 miles. List of titles as before. Price 9d.

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Torquay District ... ...       KB.

 

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of  Ilfracombe District ... ...  KB.

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Taunton District ... ...  KB.

   

Two maps do not conform to the descriptions above:

5. Circa 1903. Area shown as above. Colour. Different format (cover 165 x 90 mm) and specially produced for Coles & Lee, Printers and Stationers of the Gazette Office with their address on cover. Bacon address in imprint is still the Strand. No list present. Notes below the border are: Hills to be ridden (CeOS) and Divided into 10 mile sq. (DeOS).  Printer´s number added 32M10 by imprint.

Bacon's Cycling Road-Map - Bideford District ...                        KB.

 

6. Circa 1903. Map form corresponds to 1 above (b-w, yellow roads) but the area covered is now everything west of Plymouth, including the continuation of Cornwall seen in Sheet 7 of the large series. Back cover now lists over 90 titles including Plymouth. Price of series 9d but this example has price sticker of 1/- Net added. Address is still the Strand.

Bacon's Cycling and Motoring Map of Plymouth District ...       KB.

    

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