In endeavouring to publicise a couple of humble maps I seemed to have
stirred up an awful lot of words with half a sentance!

Paul Cooper asks what the demand for 'historical mapping' really is.
With the experience of forty-odd years map collecting, and twenty-plus
of making intensive use of libraries and record offices, from the
British Library and PRO/National Archives at one end to the Morley
Public Library in the West Riding and NE Scotland Libraries at
Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire at the other, let me try to answer the
question!

Most users of 'historical' mapping are interested in building and
street-level data, i.e. nothing less than OS 1:10,560/10,000 standard
will do, and ideally 1:2500/1250. Smaller-scale, and than means pre-OS
large-scale, mapping is only consulted if nothing better is available.
Ditto, largely, commercial large-scale mapping. It is perhaps
significant that the only complete republication to date of OS 1:63,360
mapping is of the Old Series in England and Wales, most of which
predates the OS large-scale surveys, that the initial David & Charles
republication in 1969-71 averaged 1000 copies a year for many years
(information from late Brian Harley, who wrote the historical notes for
them), that there was an upmarket issue in volume form by Harry
Margary, which sold well bearing in mind the marketing methods used,
and that a new series, enlarged to 1:50,000 and on Landranger
sheetlines with the National Grid, is being brought out by Timeline,
for completion later this year. There have also been series for
Scotland (mostly late 1890s) issued by Caledonian Books and for Ireland
by Phoenix Maps (later 19th century), both I believe largely aimed at
the 'ancestor hunter' market. Prices of all of these are reasonable in
relation to the end-product (Timeline charge the same as for current
Landrangers). Both Phoenix and Caledonian have issued larger-scale
mapping of towns, of necessarily lesser general interest (but, I
submit, of greater practical use!), but I have heard of no printing or
sales figures for the Timeline, Phoenix and Caledonian enterprises.
Given the retail prices and print costs, I reckon Phoenix and
Caledonian could easily cover their costs on selling 1000 copies over
10 years: Timeline's production is more sophisticated and they might
need to move 1000-2000 a year. Note that these are all hard-copy maps!
OS sales are commercially confidential, but known historic data
suggests that Landrangers would have to sell an average of 10-20,000
copies a year, and Explorers perhaps 2000-5000, to cover costs. In
other words, the sale of SMALL-SCALE historic maps is [perhaps of the
oerder of 10 per cent of that of current OS mapping, allowing for the
fact that historic mapping, of its nature, can't get (further) out of
date, and that therefore it lacks the incentive of a new purchase for
access land, etc, which OS and other current publishers can benefit
from.

So much for small-scale maps. The main series of OS large-scale issues
are of course the Godfreys. I believe that the average run of these is
about 1000-1500, for 5-10 years stock. However, 90 per cent are reduced
reproductions of OS 1:2500, and the print codes on the originals often
indicate the vastly greater demand for these in their reissued form, as
compared with when they were first published (especially given that a
lot of the demand, particularly during World war II, was from
government depts for various purposes, which distorts the figures).
Although nearly 2000 Godfreys have now been published, there are still
significant areas practically untouched (e.g. much of south Wales). It
must be borne in mind that eacgh Godfrey covers an area of 1.5 square
miles, or about 4 sq km, so of necessity is of much less proprtionate
interest than an OS Landranger coveribng 1600 sq km! Demand is
therefore 'signiicant'!

What about the libraries? Well, it is not always easy to estimate
the level of use of post-war OS National Grid large-scales in local
authority libraries and record offices because sets are often very
incomplete, but my impression is that the general demand in libraries
is for superseded mapping, and that a respectable minority of that
denmand is for relatively recent superseded mapping. The actual type of
use will tend to vary with the library: I have the impression that the
main users at Oldmeldrum and Morley are family or local historians, and
quite a number of libraries have a limited number of maps on open
access, often encapsulated, which keep at least 95 per cent of users
happy. (I must admit to being a member of the other 5 %, who like to
see the reality hinted at by the card index - as it so often still is!)
However, at the British Library for the past 13 or 14 years up to half
or more of the map room users have been 'Land Use consultants', relying
heavily on post-1945 OS large-scale mapping for site-check work: and
this despite the automated service offered by Landmark and possibly
other firms. (I have to say that I don't know what Landmark on the one
hand and the regulars in the BLML on the other charge for their
services.) A few libraries - e.g. Southport, when I visited about four
years ago - do take advantage of local authority OS licences to provide
printouts at 1:10,000 and/or 1:1250: as these are encapsulated and on
open access, one needs an eye for disorder to estimate popularity!

So for libraries, the predominant use is probably for superseded
mapping: and as time advances, so the superseded mapping of later and
later in the 20th century will become more and more attractive...

Richard Oliver

-------------------
Richard Oliver, B.A., D.Phil., F.B.Cart.S.,
School of Geography, Archaeology & Earth Resources
University of Exeter
Exeter, EX4 4RJ