Does anyone know who illustrated these covers? They're signed "Blake" but interweb research has drawn a big fat nothing, or rather, nothing but a slightly stoat William and the fact that he did a bit of illustration too just doesn't help, even though he was well dead by the time Esso commissioned these.
I don't know either, but they do look pretty cool. Thanks for posting!
Posted by: Sketchee | 06 May 2008 at 09:14 PM
Gorgeous artwork - the London cover is particularly atmospheric.
Did they have a date on them?
Posted by: Jon Hicks | 06 May 2008 at 10:05 PM
Late 40s Jon. Can't be more specific right now but I know that by 1950 Esso maps had a red bar at the top.
Posted by: Richard | 07 May 2008 at 12:26 PM
Northern England, population: 1.
Posted by: Daniel | 07 May 2008 at 02:02 PM
I bought a load of these maps from a charity shop about six months ago. One of them has a hinged strip attached to it so you can see how far places are from a certain point.
Posted by: Jon | 11 May 2008 at 08:57 PM