GW Bacon & Co

Publisher: GW Bacon & Co

Folding maps and flat maps

The table below lists maps of Essex in approximately chronological order within scale, taken from GW Bacon's Atlases and individual County Maps. GW Bacon & Co was active from 1869 to 1922, when George Washington Bacon died and the business was taken over by W & AK Johnston. Click on the thumbnails to get a larger picture and more information.

The dimensions against each cover and each map are Height x Width; for the maps, the measurements are of the outermost neat line of the map (not the size of the sheet of paper).

As a firm it used the plates first used in The Dispatch Atlas and then in Cassell's Atlases to create a long series of folding maps, aimed at cyclists and others, and atlases. The folding maps had covers that changed over time, but a new cover rarely meant a new map (other than railways being updated). The folding maps and atlases had the same original source, but were enlarged and progressively updated (mainly for railways and Parliamentary Divisions) via lithography. The colours on the dimensions below group maps of essentially the same size together.

The following is an approximate sequence of the county maps, based on David Smith's Victorian Maps of the British Isles (1985) which covers up to 1900, RA Carroll's The Printed Maps of Lincolnshire 1576-1900 (1996), plus the Atlases and maps at CUL and my own collection of maps of Essex.

Date	Title(s)	Approximate Dimensions	Notes
	At about 4 miles / inch, or 1:255,000 - The Atlases
1863	The Dispatch Atlas, and as Cassell's Complete County Atlas, and as Cassell's County Maps for road and rail	300 x 425mm	The map of Essex was first published in 1860, and also appeared in Cassell's maps and atlases in 1863.
1864	Cassell's British Atlas	300 x 425mm	Copy at CUL.
1870	Bacon's New Pocket Map of [county]	303 x 430mm	An example of this is below (from 1875)
1876	Bacon's New Quarto County Atlas, Bacon's Map of [county], & Bacon's New Pocket Map of [county]	310 x 430mm	using the original dimensions
1883	New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British Isles	310 x 460mm	Wider than the "blues" above, this size continues for the remaining atlases. Republished in 1884 (copy at CUL), 1886 (twice), and 1889 (copy at CUL)
1888	Map of [county], Bacon's County Guide and Map of [county]	310 x 460mm	CUL has copy of County Guide and Map of Essex
1891	New Large Scale Atlas of the British Isles from the Ordnance Survey	310 x 460mm	Republished in 1893
1895	Commercial and Library Atlas of the British Isles	303 x 457mm	Republished in 1897, 1898, 1899, 1902 & 1904. CUL has 1895 and 1902. Examples from 1895 and 1904 below.
1906	Bacon's New Large Scale Atlas of London and Suburbs	306 x 457mm	This Atlas starts as "New", but they are the same county plates being used. An example is shown below.
1907	Bacon's Library Atlas of the British Isles	305 x 459mm	An example of this is below. CUL has a copy.
1907	Bacon's Popular Atlas of the British Isles	305 x 459mm	This Atlas has the identical maps to the Library Atlas published in the same year. CUL has a copy.
1910	Bacon's Atlas of London & Suburbs	304 x 458mm	No longer "New", or "Large Scale". An example is shown below. CUL has a copy.
1924	Bacon's County Atlas of England and Wales	304 x 449mm	Republished several times until at least 1931 (even though by then GW Bacon was dead and the firm had been taken over). Examples from 1924 and 1931 are below. CUL has a copy.
	At about 4 miles / inch, or 1:255,000 - a folding sheet map
1902	Bacon's Cycling and Motoring map for [Region]	718 x 616mm	Same scale as the atlas maps, but a folding sheet - far larger than the individual county maps; example below.
	At about 2.7 miles / inch, or 1:170,000 - The folding individual county sheet maps
1869	Bacon's Map of [county]	430 x 590mm	Bacon acquired the Cassell plates, and then used them for many years via lithographic transfer, often, as in this case, enlarging the maps
1869	Bacon's County Atlas	430 x 590mm	Copy at CUL. Map identical to the 1870 below
1869	Bacon's New Tourist Map of [county]	430 x 590mm
1870	Bacon's Large Print County Atlas	430 x 600mm
1870	Bacon's New Large-Print Map of [county]	430 x 610mm	An example of this is below.
1870	Bacon's New Tourist's Map of [county] from the Ordnance Survey	430 x 590mm	by lithographic transfer, enlarging the maps
1892	Bacon's County Guide & Map of [county].	457 x 676mm	An example is shown below.
1896	Bacon's Map of [county], Bacon's County Map & Guide of [county] for Cyclists & Tourists	455 x 614mm	The folding map of 1892 above has been cut back on the eastern side. Republished many times, eg in 1897 with Dangerous Hills added, and later dates. Some examples are shown below. This map keeps going until at least 1913, when it is also available as Bacon's Reversible Map - with a county on each side of the (stiff) paper.
1920	Bacon's County Map of [county]	428 x 601mm	Somewhat smaller maps than the "oranges" above; examples from 1920 to 1935 are shown below.
	At about 2 miles / inch, or 1:125,000
1910	Bacon's New Survey Map of Essex, Hertford, Middlesex and London	870 x 1124mm	A huge map over a big area; example below
1915	Bacon's Motoring and Cycling Road Map - Colchester District	616 x 857mm	Despite title it's a regional map, and at quite a large scale; example below
	At about 5 miles / inch, or 1:315,000
1910	Bacon's Large Print Motor Map of [region]	550 x 653mm	Covers a very large area, but at a small scale; example below.
1928	Bacon's Cycling & Motoring Map of [county]	340 x 471mm	Despite the name, this is more of a regional map (centred on Essex), in that the detail continues to the edge of the paper sheet, rather than cutting off at the county border. An example is shown below.

County maps in Bacon's Atlases

Thumbnail maps	Mapmakers, their Atlases and Maps
	Bacon New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British isles 1883 303mm x 458mm Map as used in atlas.
	Bacon New Large Scale Ordnance Atlas of the British isles 1884 303mm x 458mm The 1883 map with a very small change.
	Bacon The Atlas of the British isles 1885 305mm x 461mm The 1884 map with an inaccurate update.
	Bacon The Atlas of the British isles 1886 303mm x 461mm The 1885 map with updates.
	Bacon The New Large Scale Atlas of the British isles 1891 304mm x 461mm The 1886 map with updates.
	Bacon Commercial and Library Atlas of the British isles from the Ordnance Survey 1895 303mm x 458mm The 1891 map with updates.
	Bacon Commercial and Library Atlas of the British Isles from the Ordnance Survey 1901 305mm x 457mm The 1895 map almost unchanged.
	Bacon Commercial and Library Atlas of the British Isles from the Ordnance Survey 1904 306mm x 457mm An Atlas published many times.
	Bacon Bacon's New Large Scale Atlas of London and Suburbs 1906 306mm x 457mm Not "Large Scale" for Essex.
	Bacon Bacon's Library Atlas of the British Isles 1907 305mm x 459mm An Atlas published many times.
	Bacon Bacon's Atlas of London & the Suburbs 1910 304mm x 458mm Another Atlas using the same maps.
	Bacon Bacon's Large Scale Atlas of London & Suburbs 1913 304mm x 457mm Someone stole the map colouring.
	Bacon Bacon's County Atlas of England and Wales 1924 304mm x 449mm Two identical maps, but with different plate numbering.
	Bacon Bacon's County Atlas of England and Wales 1931 303mm x 449mm The Atlas keeps going.

Folding county maps pre-Cyclists

Bacon's New Large Print Map of Essex, 1870 . Bacon's New Pocket Map of Essex, 1875.
Bacon 1870
195 x 125mm containing 432 x 620mm. 173 x 100mm containing 303 x 430mm.
Approx 3 miles to an inch. Approx 4 miles to an inch.

Folding county maps primarily for Cyclists (c.2.7 miles/inch)

Bacon's County Guide & Map. Bacon's County Map & Guide. Bacon's County Map & Guide.
(1892) (1894) (1896)
Bacon 1892 Bacon 1894 Bacon 1896
184 x 115mm for 457 x 676mm 171 x 100mm for 460 x 612mm 170 x 104mm for 462 x 610mm

Bacon's County Map and Guide Bacon's County Map and Guide Bacon's County Map and Guide.
(1899) (1901) (1906)
Bacon 1899 Bacon 1901 Bacon 1906
170 x 100mm for 460 x 612mm 172 x 100mm for 460 x 612mm 170 x 100mm for 455 x 612mm

Bacon's County Map and Guide Bacon's County Map and Guide Bacon's County Map and Guide
(1910) (1911) (1912)
Bacon 1910 Bacon 1911 Bacon 1912
170 x 100mm for 455 x 612mm 172 x 100mm for 454 x 615mm 172 x 100mm for 454 x 615mm

Bacon's County Map Bacon's County Map Bacon's County Map
(1913) (1914) (1915)
Bacon 1913 Bacon 1914 Bacon 1915
172 x 100mm for 454 x 615mm 172 x 100mm for 454 x 615mm 170 x 100mm for 455 x 614mm

Bacon's Reversible Map, Essex Bacon's Reversible Map, Suffolk.
and Suffolk (1913) and Essex (1913)
Bacon 1913
178 x 101mm for 457 x 614mm 178 x 101mm for 457 x 614mm

These are the "front" and "back" covers of a single publication, which contains the Essex map on one side and
the Suffolk map on the other side of the stiff paper. The Essex map is the same as the 1913 one above.

Bacon's County Map (1920) Bacon's County Map (1924) Bacon's County Map (1935) Bacon's County Map (1935)
Bacon 1920 Bacon 1924 Bacon 1935
172 x 100mm for 428 x 601mm 170 x 100mm for 428 x 601mm 178 x 109mm for 428 x 601mm 178 x 109mm for 428 x 601mm

Other folding county maps

Bacon's Motoring & Cycling Road Bacon's Cycling & Motoring Map
Map - Colchester (1915) Map - Essex (1928)
Bacon 1928
173 x 99mm for 616 x 857mm 132 x 90mm for 340 x 471mm

Folding maps primarily for Motorists - covering larger areas

Cycling and Motoring East Large Print Motor Map Motoring and Cycling Road Map
Anglia (1902) Eastern Counties (1910) Colchester District (1915)
Bacon 1902 Bacon 1910 Bacon 1915
169 x 99mm for 718 x 616mm 171 x 100mm for 550 x 653mm 173 x 99mm for 616 x 857mm