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Wendy,

 

It may well be that I missed/deleted all the responses to your first
message on ‘Lis-maps’ (or did all your respondents refrain from
informing everyone else of the ongoing ‘discussion’?), as I now write in
(more than usual) ignorance. Hence, apologies for any unknown
duplication of some six tidbits, in chronological order, of potentially
useful background/source information.  I have not pursued – but someone
else may care to – 19th-century paper, stationery, printing, publishing,
and bookselling trade journals; nor exhibition catalogues of industries
(national or international) for useful and illustrated articles on the
technical processes and the production of relief models (‘bumpy’ or
plaster-of-paris, wood, etc.). And I’ve only dipped into Geographical
Magazine [the second journal of that name] and The Athenaeum of around
1872-74; but found neither review nor ‘new publications’ notices.

 

It’s possible that other examples of such are deposited in regional
and/or local museums, rather than in libraries: in Nottingham
University’s Geography Dept, some years ago, I made a note of a George
Philip relief model (of the heavier, horizontally-laid, kind), and in
the entrance to Hereford Public Library, another Philip relief map
(vertically-framable kind). 

 

1] ‘GEOLOGICAL MAP | of the | WEALD | (Reduced from the Maps of the
Geological Survey) | by | W. TOPLEY F.G.S.’, scale of miles 12 = 2
inches [ca 1:380 160], col. map: 7 x 18.5”/18 x 46.5 cm, for article
‘XII. – On the agricultural geology of the Weald’ by William Topley
“[With a Map.]”, in Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England, 1872, 2nd ser., 8(2), pp.241-267 (includes ‘Note on the Map’,
p.267). Colouring of F. Dangerfield’s litho’d map in offprint (London,
1872) differs [inevitably?].

 

2] “. . . the whole of England shall be modeled, we are told, by Mr.
Topley and Mr. Jordan. This undertaking is to comprise about sixteen
blocks, measuring each twenty-five inches by seventeen inches, and on
the scale of four miles to an inch horizontal, and 2000 feet to an inch
vertical. They are to be constructed from the published information of
the Ordnance, Admiralty, and Geological Surveys, etc., and they will
clearly indicate by relief the principal physical features of the
country, and being coloured geologically, according to the different
rocks exposed at the surface, they will show the relation between
geological structure and physical features, . . . Special models of the
Wealden district, and of the Thames basin, are to be ready in January
[i.e. 1873].” [Thus, for printing and issue in Jan. 1873, this must have
been submitted to Geol. Mag. by Oct./Nov. 1872]

 

[‘. . . GEOLOGICAL MODELS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. BY WILLIAM TOPLEY,
F.G.S., Geological Survey of England and Wales; and J.B. JORDAN, Mining
Record Office.  (Stanford.)’. In The Geological Magazine, January 1873,
10(103), section ‘Notices of memoirs, III. - Geological Diagrams and
Models’, pp.32-33]

 

 

3] “. . . and now some very useful and accurate Geological Models of the
South-east of England, by Messrs. Topley and Jordan, are published by
Stanford, of Charing Cross; and these, with the Maps and Sections of the
Geological Survey, enable the student to master most of the difficulties
and complications that affect this classic area, . . .”

 

[‘ON THE AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY OF THE WEALD. By W. TOPLEY, F.G.S. From
the Journ. Royal Agric. Soc., vol. viii. 1872’, by ‘T.R.J.’ In The
Geological Magazine, February 1873, 10(104), section ‘Notices of
memoirs, II’, by ‘T.R.J.’, pp.81-82]

 

 

4] There seems no mention (that I could find, even in the copious
footnotes) of the Weald relief model in Topley’s paper ‘On the relation
of the parish boundaries in the South-East of England to great physical
features, particularly to the chalk escarpment’ read on 18 February
1873, and published in Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great
Britain and Ireland, 1874, 3, 32-56 (col. maps, “of part of Sussex”
only, are by Bartholomew) – arguably a justifiable opportunity to
mention progress or publication of said item

 

 

5] “SOUTH EAST ENGLAND. – GEOLOGICAL MODEL of the SOUTH-EAST of ENGLAND
and Part of France; including the Weald and the Bas Boulonnais. By
WILLIAM TOPLEY, F.G.S., Geological Survey of England and Wales, and J.B.
JORDAN, Mining Record Office.  Scale, 4 miles to an inch horizontal, and
2,400 feet to an inch vertical.  Coloured and Varnished in Black Frame,
to hang up, 5l.; or Packed in Case for safe transit, 5l. 5s.”

 

[A catalogue of selected atlases, maps & diagrams published or sold by
Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, London, S.W., June 1878, section
‘Geological Maps’ (pp.47-48), p.48, top entry]

 

 

6] “An examination of one of the sections of the Geological Survey drawn
across the Weald from north to south, or of the model * of the district
prepared by Messrs. Topley and Jordan, at once discloses that the Weald
district, so far from being a valley, is traversed by a central ridge
running from east to west, [. . .], limiting the so-called valley.” 

[footnote, p.258:] “ * Published by Mr. E Stanford, London.”

 

[The water supply of England and Wales ; its geology, . . . by Charles
E. De Rance (London : Stanford, 1882), p.258]

 

Francis

 

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for issues related to map & spatial data librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wendy Cawthorne
Sent: 18 August 2011 10:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Victorian relief models/maps

 

Judging by the response to my original message, it don’t think I made it
clear that this is a 3-D topographic /relief map which has been coloured
geologically (and not a solid/wooden geological model).  Papier maché
construction?  Do Stanfords have an archive?  Might they have details of
numbers made / sold?  The BGS doesn’t have this information.

 

Perhaps question should be directed at my ‘history of geology’ friends
instead.

 

Wendy

 

From: Wendy Cawthorne 
Sent: 17 August 2011 11:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Victorian relief models

 

We’ve recently acquired the Geological model of south-east England, by
William Topley and J.B. Jordan produced by the Geological Survey of
Great Britain/Edward Stanford in 1873(?).  Prof. Kirkaldy in his article
“William Topley and ‘The geology of the Weald’ (Proc. Geol. Assoc.;
86(1975, pp.373-388) states that the model was sold for £1 10s, but I
would be interested to discover more about the production of these
models and how many might have been produced.   I don’t have access here
to cartographic bibliographies and wonder if anyone can suggest where I
should look.

 

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Wendy

_________________________________________

 

Wendy Cawthorne

Assistant Librarian

 

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