[England & Wales] New Popular Edition One Inch Maps of England & Wales

Book Description

Chessington or Southampton: published by the Director General at the Ordnance Survey Office, 1940-1948. 111 (of 115) maps, numbered 64, 71, 75-78, 82-86, 88-114; 116-141, 142-153; 154-156, 157-190, each printed in colours, folded, in sections backed onto cloth (each 28 1/4 x 31 3/4 inches,) within original orange and black printed thin card wrappers. Maps in very fine condition. All contained within three compartmentalised light brown calf carrying cases (9 x 5 1/2 x 17 inches,) each case with dark brown morocco-grained cloth lining, a pair of metal locks, a carrying handle to the lid, and blind-tooled lettering ('E.H.L.S.'; 'ENGLAND & WALES' and the numbers of the maps contained within each of the three compartments). Cases in very fine condition. A very fine near-complete set of this important series, covering the whole of England and Wales: here in its most expensive form and beautifully preserved in a fine series of three contemporary leather carrying cases The complete series of the 'New Popular Edition' of the 'One-inch' maps for England and Wales starts with number 64 but then jumps to 71, then 75-78, and then should run continuously from 82 onwards to 190. The present set is therefore missing number 87 (of the Isle of Man), and 115 (the tip of north Wales), 142 (Hereford and its environs) and 157 (an area to the east of Bristol including much of the Cotswolds). The maps were sold individually in five forms of which the present is the most expensive: 'dissected 5/-' (giving a total for this set of £27.15s). The others were 'Paper, flat 2/-, folded 2/3; Mounted folded 3/- ...; Outline Edition (flat and unmounted) 2/-' These maps are an important historical record which supply a wealth of information about post-war England and Wales, with symbols locating parish, county and national boundaries, woods, public parks, orchards, ornamental grounds, glasshouses, National Trust land, quarries, gravel pits, marshland, rivers, canals, lakes, weirs, bridges, fords, sand and mud, cliffs, height contour lines, roads and tracks (of 6 different classes), bridle paths and footpaths, youth hostels, post offices, 'telephone kiosks', churches, battle sites, aerial masts, windmills, windpumps, lighthouses, lightships. Perhaps most interesting of all: the entire railway system of England and Wales when it was at its most extensive is recorded in detail. All the lines are marked, as are the principal stations, smaller stations, stations that had been closed, level crossings, viaducts, bridges, tunnels, embankments, foot bridges, sidings and tramways. A fascinating record of a system of main and branch lines that reached virtually every corner of England and Wales, but was to be decimated only twenty years later.

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