Ace Jet 170

Set Faber to Stun

A great atlas is a treasury of mapperisms. The uninterested might expect the majority of the cartography within to be fairly monotonous but the modest cover of a truly great atlas hides a plethora of variation.

With maps that illustrate: physicality, isotherms, precipitation, vegetation/land use, air pressure/winds, geology, politics, peoples, populations, religions, economics, industries and soil types, this Faber Atlas from 1964 (first published in 1956) is just such an impressive and diverse volume.

 

Brucie Bonus

 

I suspect knowing full well of my weakness for an interesting bit of mappery, designer Dan Cassaro dropped me a line about, then dropped me a copy of, his self-published, Springsteen inspired Springstreets; a fictitious street map with all locations and street names taken from Bruce's lyrics. I'm not a Springsteen fan myself but have to admit, it is a marvelous piece of work. If you're quick, you might still be able to get a copy here.

Paris dans votre poche

I'm going to make this quick; I'm supposed to be in bed; holiday tomorrow. But I was keen to leave you with something. And this is such a joyous piece of pocket mappery. Barely larger than a mini-Moleskin and, although dateless, I'd guess from around the 50s, this handy guide to the French capital is interestingly interesting. With multi-tabbed sections, beautiful maps and expandotious fold-outs.

Tab section 1 is an index of Rues (or "Rues" as we say in France), while Tab Section 2 is a collection of 20 maps, one for each Arrondissement. Bonus maps include one each for Jardin d'Acclimatation, Parc Zoologique, an overview of the city's regions and a lovely one at the front for the Metropolitain. No Harry Beck admittedly, but then this is the crazy French (no offense, I really do mean that in the most affectionate way), I doubt that they would stand for such conformity.

And to finish the whole poche-size marvel off there's a superb fold-out street map packed into the back. Bloody marvelous (as we say in Italy).

Suisse/Schweiz

A tenuous link I know but we're off to Italy next week. You know, Italy. The leggy thing under Switzerland. You know. Switzerland. Where they make Toblerone and mountains. Muesli capital of the whole wide world. Land of Helvetica and the Apollo Program's watch of choice, the Omega Speedmaster. Legend has it, the birthplace of something called the World Wide Web; a ridiculously implausible concept that some people believe will be quite important in the future.

Böllocks. As they say in Switzerland.

 

Skye & Torridon/Mull and Oban

I flippin' love a Bartholomew map, specifically this era (late 60s). It's partly the richness of colour and intricacy of the actual maps (just isolate a small section to study!)...

  

  

  

  

...but largely it's because of the covers. Beautifully structured (setting aside the unfortunate use of &/and) they're brilliantly consistent. And using the simplified land mass to differentiate each sheet was a masterful move. Personally, I think these covers are on a par with Romek Marber's monumentally ace Penguin grid from the same period. So "on a par" in fact I can't help wonder if whoever designed the Bartholomew covers was directly influenced by the paperbacks he was reading.

 

Measure for Measure

What with all these maps in the Ace Jet Archive, I thought it was about time I had the right tool to measure them with.

 

Kartenliebe

 

The map that folded out of the book on aerial photography was extremely lovely and it re-kindled a dormant interest. It's been a while since Ace Jet's seen much map-action but I remembered this 1966 German atlas of Europe I'd picked up a little while back. Although it's unexceptional on the outside, inside it's beauty is very much in the detail: scrutinizing small sections reveals fascinating multi-level cartography and printing; in fact it's when your nose is practically touching the french-folded pages that you get a great sense of the print process involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aerial Automatic

 

What better way to spy on the neighbours than with a little aerial reconnaissance. This 1958, War Office publication explains where to mount your cameras correctly and teaches you how to interpret the lie of the land below...

...Damn it! They're keeping chickens too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Past

  

You'll have to excuse this highly personal post. It's not personal in an embarrassing kind of way; I'm not going to tell you anything gruesome that you'll wish I hadn't mentioned. It's just it's about stuff that means a lot to me but probably nothing to you. You see, I found this booklet recently. It was to do with maps and I haven't found anything really interesting map-wise for a while and that bit of Helvetica looked really good, tightly set and I liked the line. It's a recruitment booklet from 1968; the Civil Service were looking for cartographic professionals.

I didn't notice the details, just enough to make me buy it (it was on ebay...so all I saw was a thumbnail). Later though, when it arrived and I could look at it properly I was extremely surprised to see that the map used for the cover showed the village where we used to live: Rothley. That's where we lived just before moving to NI. On closer examination, the map, which as you can see wraps over to the back, prompted lots of strong and timely memories.

We lived at the northern edge of the village, just up that road there. Over to the western edge is the really great Great Central Railway (just past where we had our wedding reception). Into the centre of the village and that's where the chip shop is (great chips!) and there's the church we got married in. A little bit further across and that's where Pezza has his studio. A mile or so onto the back cover and that's Swithland, where we saw all those enormous vegetables (huge onions, the size of your head!). And Cropston is kind of south west of Rothley and where we would grab a pub lunch during our "courting" days (and where the crippled children used to go for their holidays). Then there's the woods that were ace for a Sunday afternoon walk and Woodhouse Eves, where the posh people live.

We're heading back there in a few weeks and are planning to hook up with old friends we haven't seen for years. It's going to be brilliant, can't wait and seeing all this has made it all the more vivid and exciting.

      

I'm not sure quite why this particular snippet of map was chosen for the cover. I thought that perhaps it was where their offices were but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case. Then I thought that perhaps Rothley was the most central point in England, but it's not. It's not far off but it's far enough off to dismiss that theory. Who knows?

 

It's incidental but inside was a folded slip of paper which outlines prospective salaries for the positions they were looking to fill. Makes interesting reading.

A Coordinated Greeting

Finally found a use for those Michelin maps I bought earlier in the year. They're French so it seemed only right that the greeting should by like-wise. Have a great Christmas everyone! See you in the new year.

 

Map Making c1953

Flagrantly stolen from I Like. (Hope that's OK Anne).

Beaucoup de Bibendum

 

There hasn't been much map-action lately. But a while back I found a whole pile to Michelin maps in a charity bookshop, going for a song, so I snapped them up. If nothing else, I thought I could use them as wrapping paper.

Haven't been able to bring myself to do that yet.

 

 

 

  

Blake's Six

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.

King Edward VII Land and other holiday destinations

While I was off work last week my parents were over from the mainland so we all went to the Ulster Folk Museum for a day. It's a great place, I've mentioned before, and everyone enjoyed it. Just as we were polishing off our picnic lunch my oldest boy asked if he could go and play in the coal yard. Despite images of a returning blackened child, we let him go.

A few minutes later I thought I'd better check to make sure he hadn't fallen fowl of any of the numerous hazards; I know, I thought, I'll sneak through the coal yard office and scare the b'jesus out of him (as the locals say). But, creeping in, I was greeted by a warming sight: there he was, at the desk, leafing through this lovely vintage atlas. That's me' boy.

Apparently, he was deciding where we were going to go on holiday. Somewhere off the coast of the Antarctic it is then.

(Took the opportunity to extend my UFM Flickr set too.)

Caltexaco?

Here's another one from Nick's box.

Map aside, it's interesting (well, for about 2 minutes) that the Caltex brand looked remarkably like another but a little digging reveals that it still does because they're both offspring of the same hermaphrodite parent Chevron. It's all explained here.

Thanks go to the man with the box.

Don't mention the...

Here's another specimen from Nick's bumper box of maps etc (one day, he might get it back).

Nowhere near as glamorous as the previous example it's printed on really awful paper. Dated 1943, the general poor quality of the material and print make this a strangely interesting piece of work.

A few words about emergency exits

Found this recently (on ebay for a couple of quid) and thought it might reveal an interesting map.

It didn't...well not that interesting.

Still, it doesn't matter because it has other things going for it to compensate. Specifically, and discovered to my great (if sad) delight: the sloping 'tab' system designed to help you identify which quarter of North America you want to look at. It's dead simple of course; the one edge is cut at a slight angle so when it's folded, map-stylee, it creates zip-zagging coloured strips that correspond to the colours in that diagram.

Trust your car to the man who wears the star

Nicklas has kindly lent me his bumper box of maps etc. There's lots of interesting things inside.

A major highlight being this 1965 map of New York and specifically the 1964/65 World's Fair. Published by Rand McNally & Company and sponsored by Texaco.

de grote bosatlas

Jonathan Turner emailed me a while back with a link to his superb Flickr collections. Specifically, to images of this Wim Crouwel/Total Design designed atlas. He's got loads of great stuff.

His latest addition, "The Practical Idealists", looks brilliant too, so I've ordered a copy on Abe.

Ham Street x 4

If you've got A Smile in the Mind you'll know these stamps, designed by Howard Brown in 1991. Each shows Ham Street as seen on an Ordnance Survey map of a particular eras. The price of the stamp is incorporated into the map, appropriating the style of the time. Smile everyone!

Collision avoidance

No FTF again I'm afraid. That last one was so damn good, a hard act to follow, so I'm not going to try until next week.

Instead, feast your eyes upon a set of high altitude enroute charts that Graham's sent me. Superb aren't they? I can now navigate my aircraft to Dakar safely or pop over to Caracas (where all the good looking girls live! Remember Gregory's Girl? No? Then that's just a very bad joke. Actually, even if you do remember, it's still a very bad joke). Ehum...well anyway, maps...

They're quite remarkable really; if a little too busy at times for nervous flyers (thankfully, I'm not one of them). Closer scrutiny reveals details to raise further concern, like the abundance of fuel dumping areas and rather casual reference to collision avoidance.

And I'm becoming increasingly worried that there's someone flying over Africa right now wondering where the hell their charts are.

Britain to U.S.A. or Canada

I was expecting the plectrum but wasn't expecting package number two (or number three for that matter, which I'll show you later in the week). Alistair, from ephemera-loving We Made This (who, incidentally, have one of the most extremely interesting design-related blogs) very kindly sent me this BOAC Route Map.

The cover was designed by Erwin Fabian who worked periodically for Penguin probably around the same time that he did this.

Born in Berlin, Fabian was one of many creative types that fled Germany to avoid the Nazis: first to England, deported to Australia then back to London after the War where he worked as a graphic designer between 1949 and 1962. At that point he moved back to Australia and concentrated his efforts on Abtract Expressionist sculpture.

Of course, it's an extremely interesting map too; I count four line-screened colours plus that red, curiously overprinted quite crudely rather than intergrated into the design (to accommodate changes in routes or so the map artwork could be relayed for different journeys I'd guess).

National Grid 189

Because I was a boy scout the name "Ordnance Survey" provokes all sorts of memories. To my ultimate shame (but not without a naughty schoolboy-like snigger) the strongest OS-related memory I have is of me scrutinising a sheet inorder to work out just how our group (pack? troop? patrol? I can't remember) could short-cut the gruelling hike our glorious leader had sent us on. That's probably about as rebellious as I got as a teenager.

Yes, I was a lazy child but they told us we should expect to be back by 3pm and we knew that that didn't stack up; that the only way we'd keep to that schedule was to cheat...and we were damn right: back at three on the dot, the rest weren't back for hours. So really, I'd say we showed unprecedented initiative that displayed an admirable respect for deadlines and for the need to meet them no matter what.

Our leader didn't see it that way.

I soon left to pursue an adolescence full of long hair, Black Sabbath and Purple Parachutes.

More modern editions of OS maps (yet to be posted) seem quite sanitized when compared to older publications like this one which still has loads of charm and character. But then, of course, charm and character is no good to you when you're half way up a mountain and the cloud's coming down fast, you're out of Kendal Mint Cake and one of your party is whinging about his twisted ankle. What do you do? Carry him or leave him for the goats to pick over his remains?

3 Miles = 1 Inch

Continuing the casual survey of map design here's a, just 3-colour, Geographia of North Wales. No date. Pre-decimal. 2 an' 6 to you guvna'.

Section No.5

Ben from British Letterpress has very kindly sent me a bumper pack of printed samples and ephemera, loads of stuff.

Including this ace map of The North from 1970.

Found Map Thursday?

No, just John Furnival's favourite map: a modern British Admiralty map of the North East coast. He also sent me this link to a diagram that shows how such maps use colour.

Herts and Bucks

Andy Welland sent me this Bartholomew map which was really nice of him. It occurred to me, following that last map post, that I'd touched on something interesting: Specifically, how the different publishers have such different styles.

Expect there's someone out there who knows much more about this kind of thing than me, someone really into cartography, but in their absence I thought I'd post some photos of Bartholomew's rich hues.

Coming soon: Boring old Ordnance Survey.

Michelin Man

I think it's quite clear by now that I'm a sucker for a good map.

The other week I picked these up: Published by Michelin's Tourism Service in 1960 and 61 they have a distinct French feel; I'm not sure if it's just the colour scheme or the sans serif, or all of those dots (I think French cartographers really like dots). Of course, it's likely to be all of that stuff mixed up.

I guess I grew up with cool, clinical Ordnance Survey with only an occassional once (but no longer) richly coloured, clearly British Bartholomew to peruse, so these feel quite exotic.

Buses run daily on all routes unless otherwise stated

I have mixed feelings about buying things on ebay.

On one hand it's brilliant. All that stuff and some it is dead cheap. Because I like all sorts of stuff it's kind of perfect for me and I can go mooching (almost) whenever I like. But then, on the other hand, the element of chance has been considerably reduced. And it's that element of chance that makes finding something interesting in a secondhand bookshop or at a car boot sale so exciting.

Still, with limited time on my hands, the urge to mooch takes over and an-ebaying I go.
See more here.

Cape Wrath and West Riding

It's pure coincidence that I found this Cape Wrath map just a week before the new TV show started. I've only seen a bit of the programme so can't comment on whether it's any good.

The map, on the other hand, is another story. There's something extremely beautiful about the proportions of the covers that these maps have: 4:6:9?. There's clearly a strict grid there; the consistency is lovely, as is the positioning of the type, particularly that bit in the top right-hand corner.

They're from around the late 60s although I don't know much about Bartholomew Maps; there only seems to be these two colours, for example, and I'm not sure what they mean; I'd guess the blue is for paper maps and the orange for cloth.

Maps Maps Maps

Following on from the Atlas post, I happen to be idly flicking through the rather beautiful Revised Bible that my Mom was presented with in 1957 and gave to my wife soon after we got married when I was struck, again, by how lovely the maps are at the back.

Printed with just three colours (I think) the registration is a little off but just adds to their charm.

The World As We Know It

Over the weekend I bought an old copy of The Reader's Digest Great World Atlas. Originally published in 1961, this was a second edition printed in 1975 (that's the gold foil embossed cover design above).

I picked it up just thinking it might be handy to have in the house and it's funny, I've seen this book and similar atlases many many times, so many times, over years, that I wouldn't normally take much notice but flicking through it this time I was struck by what a monumental piece of graphic design is was.

First, of course, comes the maps, starting with relief maps or "how our world would appear to an observer at a point some hundred miles above the Earth's surface". Then the really beautiful stuff: conventional maps perhaps, but viewed up close the minute type and line screened colour areas are irresistible. The last map in this section, of Antarctica, is startling, thanks to its geographic position, i.e. where lines of longitude converge, and its barren land mass.

But it's Section Three, The World As We Know It, which is most fascinating. It's packed full of interesting facts about the planet and is lavishly illustrated. OK, it's all text book stuff but I wasn't paying much attention at school so now The Earth's Structure, Patterns of Climate, Life in the Sea, Bird Migration, The Spread of Mammals, Religions of the World and Human Migration since 1650 are all very interesting.

Praha

I'm obviously not alone in having a liking for maps. All those multi-layered lines and intricate detail; I guess it's a throw-back to my boy scout days; scouring the map for a short cut (I always was a lazy git).

Printed on thick, off-white, pulpy paper; the ink has soaked in nicely.