FORBES ROBERTSON, USED ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS

 LARGE ADDITIONS to early BARTHOLOMEW'S MAPS

-particularly 1920s BOXED SETS and earliest SCOTTISH

                        ALL ENQUIRIES TO

The maps  for sale on this site are the result of over 30 years of collecting used ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS.

        ORIGINS OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY.

A deficiency in British Mapping was highlighted by complaints from the Army when attempting to crush the 1745 Rebellion in Scotland and when there were fears of Invasion by Napoleon.

The Board of Ordnance, being "The supplier of Munitions and equiptment to the Army and Navy", was instructed to to carry out a Trigonometric Survey of the country.

A 'Great Base' for the first triange from which surveying would spread throughout the country was measured at Hounslow Heath in 1774  -a recent remeasuring , using the latest sattelite technology, showed a discrepancy of only  2.2 inches over the 5.2 mile base.

The first fruit of the resulting survey was a 1" map of KENT published by William Foden in 1801       -Forty years before the "Penny Black" !!

                                                                                                   DESCRIPTION OF MAPS.

A short history of each Series or Edition is given on the appropriate page.

When describing the "condition" of a map it must be assumed that it is "used".

This means that EX shows a map of exceptional quality for its age, appears to be virtually unused but not necessarily MINT.

VG+ shows a map with some signs of handling, perhaps even the owners signature, but very little damage or staining to the cover or map to  detract from its appearance.

This progresses through Good  and down to Poor in maps which may be torn or badly stained but have some value in research.

As these are my personal assessments of each map and its cover overall, I have a "no quible" return policy for anyone disagreeing with any map description. 

1) O.S        2)  BARTHOLOMEW'S         3) MILITARY           4) FOREIGN 

                Click on   blue for page of your choice

                          1)ORDNANCE SURVEY. 

ONE INCH AND 1:50,000

1" ENGLAND & WALES only

Old and New Series and 3rd Edition ( 1801- 1918 )      Popular Edition (1919-1926)

Fifth Edition ( 1930 s)         Sixth Edition (1940 - 1950 )

1" SCOTLAND only

Early Scottish maps (1856- 1913 )

Popular Edition (1924-1932)   Popular Edition c Nat Grid (  1934 - 1945 )      

1" GREAT BRITAIN 

Seventh Series (1952-1972)  

1 : 50,000  MAPS (1974+)

         1:25000 Outdoor Liesure & Explorer Maps (1980+)   

                          GEOLOGY