Showing posts with label Abel Heywood. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 August 2021

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.

John Bartholomew 7 – for Abel Heywood

Abel Heywood's series of Penny Guide Books included transfers from the Imperial Map. A map covering most of North Devon can be found in A Guide to Ilfracombe and Clovelly published by Abel Heywood and Son in Manchester in 1900 (compare to Imperial Map 4). Heywood, a bookseller and publisher of radical literature began his series of penny guides in 1866 with Buxton and Kent appearing in 1872.

Abel Heywood was born in Prestwich, near Manchester, in 1810.[1] His family were poor, moreso after the father's death when Heywood was only five. As a result Abel received little formal education, and at the comparatively young age of 9, he became an apprentice to Thomas Worthington who owned a warehouse in High Street in Manchester. We know that Heywood attended the Bennett Street Sunday School, and later the Mechanics' Institute of which he was one of the first members. Despite his own limited access to education he rose to become a prominent figure.

By 1830, Heywood had opened acquired the agency for the sale of the Poor Man's Guardian.This was a working man's newspaper which sold for one penny, which would become a popular format around the middle of the century. However, at this time all newspaper publishers were expected to pay the stamp duty due on all newspapers, but many publishers refused on the grounds that it was a tax on knowledge. By 1832 Heywood had opened a shop in Oldham Street in Manchester. He was also prosecuted several times for selling this "illegal" newspaper even serving 4 months in jail. In 1837, the government finally reduced stamp duty from four pence to one penny. Heywood’s business flourished, and by 1840 he was selling 18,000 copies of his newspaper a week. When he came into conflict with the law again with accusations that he sold material containing "blasphemous" matter it only served to raise great local sympathy for his "free" press principles. His reputation had so grown by 1835, however, that he was appointed as Commissioner of Police in that year, and later elected as a member of the new Manchester Corporation.

Meanwhile he continued newspaper printing and sales, opening his own paper mill in Stockport, and publishing journals such as "The Northern Star", "Ben Brierley's Journal", and his own publication, the "Manchester Spectator". A follower of Robert Owen's philosophies on social reform, he actively promoted educational expansion for the city. He was elected and served as Alderman for the city, and was twice made Mayor, though his bid to be elected as a Member of Parliament failed in 1859.

Abel Heywood died in 1893 aged 84 years, and is buried at his residence "Summerfield" in Rose Hill, Bowden, There is a statue of him in Manchester Town Hall.

Bartholomew Imperial Map 7 (Abel Heywood)

Size: 260 x 390 mm. SCALE 4 MILES TO AN INCH (8 = 50).

MAP OF THE ENVIRONS OF ILFRACOMBE (CaOS) together with imprint: PUBLISHED WITH ABEL HEYWOOD & SON'S SERIES OF PENNY GUIDE BOOKS (PRICE TOGETHER 2D). Imprint below map: Abel Heywood & Son. 56 & 58 Oldham Street. Manchester. Signature: John Bartholomew & Co. Edinr. (EeOS) and Copyright (AeOS).

Coast from Tintagell Head to Dunster and south as far as Tintagell Head and Topsham. Note that the county name (DEVON) is missing from this section and that railway lines from Holsworthy to Bude and Barnstaple to Lynton have not yet been added.

1.1900 A Guide to Ilfracombe and Clovelly

Manchester. Abel Heywood and Son. 1900. MCL[2].

For other Bartholomew maps:

Bartholomew Imperial Map 1 - Return to main list