John Bartholomew – The Imperial Map

 Among the earliest of major cartographic works of John Bartholomew II (1831-1893) was his engraving of the Imperial Map of England & Wales, published in 1868. Although originally printed on 16 sheets covering England and Wales from north to south[1] it was not long before both county and regional maps were being prepared from the plates. Archibald Fullarton was the publisher of the Imperial Map and it was issued both in book format and as separate sheets (from which it would be possible to form a wall map).

Shortly after the Imperial Map first appeared both W H Smith and A & C Black were offering copies of the same sheets under their own imprints. Black’s offered a New Large Map of England & Wales in 16 sheet. About 1890 W H Smith offered the Cyclist’s Road Map of England & Wales in 16 sheets from the Ordnance Survey. In addition Houlston and Wright, later Houlston & Sons, were offering various maps of Devon taken from the Imperial Map plates.

The Thorough Guides series published by Dulau and Co. from 1888 onwards (see B&B 157 and separate entry) was the first work to make extensive use of the plates to produce sectional maps of Devon and Cornwall. Towards the end of the century updated transfers were taken to produce excursion maps and local guide maps for other publishers such as G W Bacon & Co., Charles Pearson, Houlston & Wright and Abel Heywood (see below), Varnan Chown & Co. (1903)[2]. and Darlington (1908)[3] and maps in The Royal Atlas of England and Wales (circa 1900) originally came from the Imperial Map and for cyclists small pocket sized county maps from this atlas were prepared for the Pattisons (see Victorian Maps of Devon entry 175) . G W Bacon seems to have been cooperating with John Bartholomew in the early 1900s and copies of the full county map appeared with Bacon’s typical covers: eg Bacon's County Map of Devonshire with parts of adjoining counties from circa 1905 until the 1920s.

Click the entry below to go directly to the map(s) in question:

Bartholomew Imperial Map 1 - See below

Bartholomew Imperial Map 2 - W H Smith´s Exeter and Environs / Plymouth & Dartmoor

Bartholomew Imperial Map 3 - maps published by Houlston & Wright / Houlston & Sons

Bartholomew Imperial Map 4 - maps used by Milligan etc. for guides to Ilfracombe

Bartholomew Imperial Map 5 - hunting maps for Hiorns & Miller

Bartholomew Imperial Map 6 - The Royal Atlas

Bartholomew Imperial Map 7 - Abel Heywood´s guide to Ilfracombe

Bartholomew Imperial Map 8 - Pearson´s Gossipy Guide

In addition Bartholomew produced two further maps of South Devon for W H Smith:

Bartholomew - W H Smith 1

Bartholmew - W H Smith 2

 

Bartholomew Imperial Map 1a                   


Size: 460 x 680 mm.  SCALE 4 MILES TO AN INCH (12 = 75 mm). 

No title but IMPERIAL MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES (AaOS). Imprint: A FULLARTON & CO. LONDON & EDINBURGH (CaOS). Engraver's signature: DRAWN & ENGRAVED BY JOHN BARTHOLOMEW, F R G S. (EeOS). Sheet number: SHEET 15 (EaOS). Elaborate border left side only. Scale below map (BeOS). Grid B-L horizontally and Z-f vertically.

Map covers a large area of the county: south Wales at top and complete north coast of Devon and Cornwall as far as Trevose Head and Somerset to Watchett; everything west of Sidmouth and north of Dawlish is included. Railways are consistent with a date of 1865-66: to Exmouth, Moreton, Launceston and Bideford with planned lines to Bude, Ilfracombe (erroneously via Bittadon) and Dartmoor Loop with the stretch to Sampford Courteney as completed. Illustrated above. 

1. 1868      The Imperial Map of England & Wales

                  London. Fullarton & Co. (1868).  KB (boxed set), KB (Atlas).

 

2. 1870s     No title but BLACK’S NEW LARGE MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES (AaOS). New imprint: PUBLISHED BY A & C BLACK, EDINBURGH. Folds into green covers with title label on cover: BLACK’S NEW LARGE MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES.

 

                   Black’s New Large Map Of England & Wales.

                  Edinburgh. A & C Black. (1870).  KB.

 

3. 1892    No title but REDUCED ORDNANCE MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES (AaOS). No imprint. Folds into blue covers with title below and small index map on cover. Coast from Padstow and Dawlish in south to south coast of Wales. Note that the N in county name (DEVON) is missing and that railway lines from Holsworthy to Bude and Barnstaple to Lynton have not yet been added.

 

                  Cyclist’s Road Map of England & Wales

                  London. W H Smith & Son. (1892).   KB. 


Bartholomew Imperial Map 1b

Size: 235 x 680 mm.  No scale. 

No title and no imprint. Engraver's signature: DRAWN & ENGRAVED BY JOHN BARTHOLOMEW, F R G S. (AeOS). Sheet number incomplete: SHE (EaOS). Elaborate border left and bottom sides only. No scale. Grid C-L horizontally (letters in circles) and f-h vertically.

Map covers all of the county missing southwards from 1a above: all of south Devon and Cornwall below Tavistock. Railways are consistent with a date of 1865-66: to Ashburton and Kingswear as well as line from Plymouth to Penzance, however, Kingsbridge is included (not built until 1890s). 

1. 1868    The Imperial Map of England & Wales

                London. Fullarton & Co. (1868).  KB (boxed set), KB (Atlas).

 

2. 1870s   No title but BLACK’S NEW LARGE MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES (AaOS). New imprint: PUBLISHED BY A & C BLACK, EDINBURGH. Also has SHEET 16 (EaOS). Folds into green covers with title label on cover: BLACK’S NEW LARGE MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES. Illustrated above.

 

        Black’s New Large Map Of England & Wales.

        Edinburgh. A & C Black. (1870).  KB.

[1] Actually printed on 15 full-size sheets with sheet 16 being split into three sections roughly 1/3 size, sheet 16a covering the south of Cornwall and the south of Devon - below a line from Dawlish to Padstow and the English Channel – 16b and 16c covering the English Channel south of England.
[2] Varnan, Chown & Co.s "Half-Inch To Mile“ Map Of North Devon District. Signatures: The Edinburgh Geographical Institute (AeOS) and Copyright – John Bartholomew & Co. (EeOS). 290 mm x 560 mm..Scale 2 Miles to an Inch (5=65 mm) (CeOS). Inset PLAN OF ILFRACOMBE. Railways to Lynton and Northam and planned to Appledore. Map reverse covered in adverts. Folded into yellow cardboard covers c.1903.
[3] Darlington’s Devon and Cornwall guide (c.1908) used a transfer of North Devon.

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