Clik here to view.
Annoucing BL Georeferencer champions
All the maps in this latest round of BL Georeferencer were completed yesterday, 1 Nov, thus producing second lot of of the Library's historic maps that know where they belong. A related result was the...
View ArticleLinks with OS past
Today I was visited by Neill and Anna Hill. Anna is the descendant of Robert Dawson through her mother while her father was the last director of OS when it was still entirely staffed by the military!...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Falmouth gets the octopus treatment
The British Library’s Cartographic Department has added another couple of octopus maps to its collection, and it is doubtful the Octopus Appreciation Society will be any more pleased with them than any...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Nativity in maps
I’ve been struggling all week to find something Christmassy in a map to write about. The Ortelius map of Russia has some people riding on a sleigh, but it doesn't quite fit the bill. Then I found a map...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stargazing with maps. In the dark?
Like many I enjoyed watching Stargazing Live on BBC TV recently. Live televised astronomy is a risky business, especially in the UK where the odd cloud does tend to appear occasionally, obscuring what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
BL Georeferencer - maps go like hotcakes
This is more a news update than anything else, to say that some amazing stuff has gone on this week with BL Georeferencer, our online crowdsourcing project for placing historic maps at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ordnance Surveyors’ Drawings opened for reuse
The Library’s unique collection of Ordnance Surveyors’ Drawings is now available under new terms, making the maps freely accessible and usable in digital tools.The Ordnance Surveyors’ Drawings (OSDs),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inspired by ..... MAPS!
What fun we had at last week’s ‘Inspired by Maps’ event. At least, some of us had fun, as you can here see from these photographs all expertly (and creatively) captured. Image ©Luca SageDetail of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Recent acquisitions
I was thumbing through some old Map Library invoices the other day in order to answer a reader enquiry about the provenance of a map we purchased, back in those heady days of 1891. The quantity of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On the River
Around this time of year, Dr Adam Smyth provides me with the theme for the annual Birkbeck College medieval and early modern history summer school.The British Library's excellent map collection (still...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Have trolley, will travel
I'm delighted to introduce this guest blog post from British Library conservator Ann Tomalak. Maps, like all works on paper, are potentially fragile, but larger-than A4 size and unprotected by the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Whimsical sea monsters
I'm delighted to introduce this guest blog post by the historian Chet Van Duzer, who has just written a book on a very particular (and peculiar) aspect of early maps. Chet has clearly had a great time...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Somewhere, somewhere in a field in Herefordshire...
Here is a satellite view of a small farm outside Bromyard in Herefordshire: We’ve got used to expecting large scale aerial and satellite imagery of tiny rural areas ‘on tap’, which is remarkable in...
View ArticleMapping a Lost City
I'm pleased to welcome as our latest guest blogger Mel Byrd from the British Library's higher education team. Mel has been heavily involved with the 'Made with the British Library' video series, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A map discovery hidden in a 17th century portrait
Wall maps are sometimes depicted in the background of painted or printed portraits. Almost always they are just a blur with a stroke of colour or a sign-like blot . This is emphatically not the case...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Maps of Paradise
Alessandro Scafi's wonderfully illustrated, perceptive book 'Mapping Paradise' has just been published by the British Library, and is available in, amongst other places, the British Library shop. I'm...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2,700 new maps online for georeferencing
Those with an interest in the history of industrial Britain and the urban landscape will be pleased to hear: Goad fire insurance plans are now online and available for georeferencing. These maps are a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don't put a foot wrong in Georgian Bath
A new and correct plan of the city of Bath and places adjacent, produced in 1750 (and in numerous further editions thereafter) included a number of very useful points of information for the Georgian...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What are these bits of maps?
Georeferencing the Library's Goad plans of British and Irish towns is progressing well. I've been asked several times, however, about the oftentimes miniscule slices of maps that we're asking you to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Done! 2,700 maps georeferenced by volunteers
Earlier this week, georeferencing of the Library's collection of first-edition Goad mapping of British and Irish towns was completed!In just seven weeks, the work of a great many people brought order...
View Article
