A vintage map (full extent not shown in the scan)
AI Overview
Bartholomew's Western Europe Automobile Map, a vintage folding road map printed and published in Edinburgh by John Bartholomew & Son Ltd.
Key Details
• Date Range. The Royal Warrant line beneath the coat of arms reads "By Appointment to the Late King George V," which places its publication between 1936 and the early 1950s (after George V's death in January 1936 and before Bartholomew switched to a plain cream-colored "Contour-Coloured World Map Series" cover design around 1952). A 1938 edition with this exact red cover is held in the David Rumsey Map Collection.
• Format & Price. The cover indicates it is the Cloth edition (mounted on linen for durability during travel), originally priced at 6/6 Net (6 shillings and 6 pence in pre-decimal British currency).
• Scale. Drawn at a scale of 1:3,000,000 (roughly 47 miles to the inch), it was designed for long-distance continental motoring across Western Europe, showing main roads, railways, and international borders.
• Cover Artwork. It features a classic interwar motoring illustration of an open-top touring car stopped in a mountainous landscape while a passenger points out the route ahead
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From the cover alone, this edition dates to 1936–1949 (most likely 1936–1939).
Here is why the cover narrows it down to that exact window:
• Lower Limit (1936). The Royal Warrant under the crest reads "By Appointment to the Late King George V." George V died on January 20, 1936, so this cover could not have been printed before early 1936.
• Upper Limit (1949/1950). By 1950, Bartholomew changed the cover cardstock from red to cream/buff while keeping the same motoring illustration and "Cloth, 6/6 Net" price (as seen on surviving 1950 copies). By 1952, the price increased to 7/6 Net before the cover design was completely replaced by the "Contour-Coloured World Map Series" layout.
• Pre-War vs. Post-War (1936–1939 vs. 1946–1949). Civilian continental motoring maps were suspended during World War II. A copy with this exact red cover is cataloged in the David Rumsey Map Collection as 1938. Post-war printings from 1946–1949 also briefly used the red cover before switching to cream cardstock
In fairly poor and fragile condition - signs of having been folded and unfolded rather a lot, tanning, etc. A few squares have some splitting along fold lines. It also has ink lines across it - possibly marked by a pilot, with a few notes and numbers
So, not in the greatest condition - but someone may be looking for it!
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Payment
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