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: lis-map[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: lis-map[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

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Wendy Cawthorne

Assistant Librarian

 

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