A selection of 36 atlases and maps in 53 volumes collected by John (known as 'Ian') Bartholomew (1890-1962), former head of the Edinburgh-based cartographic publishing house of the same name, who was a former Trustee of the Library. The atlases and maps range in date from 1525 to 1865, and consist of fine examples of Italian, Bavarian, Dutch, French and English cartography. Italian-published works include a good copy of Livio Sanuto's superbly engraved 'Geografia...di...Africa' (1588), Vincenzo Maria Coronelli's 'Isolario dell'Atlante Veneto' (1696-1697), and Sir Robert Dudley's 'Dell'Arcano del mare' (the first sea atlas by an Englishman), both 1646 and 1662 editions. There is a fine coloured copy of Philipp Apian’s ‘Bairische Landtafeln’ (1568), an early example of triangulated land survey of Bavaria. The Dutch school of cartography is well represented by a copy in rich contemporary colour of Joan Blaeu's 'Novum ac Magnum Theatrum urbium Belgicae foederatae' (1649), the six-volume Dutch text edition of Willem & Joan Blaeu's 'Toonneel des Aerdriicx, ofte Nieuwe Atlas' of 1648-1655, Gerhard Mercator's 'Atlas Minor' of 1628, the 1609 edition of Abraham Ortelius' 'Theatrum orbis terrarum' and an outstanding copy in contemporary colour of Johannes van Keulen's two-volumed 'De groote nieuwe vermeerderde zee-atlas ofte water-werelt' (1681-1684). French cartography includes 'Le Neptune François' produced by the Département de la Marine in 1773, and Guillaume d'Heulland's 'Théatre de la Guerre en Italie' of 1748. Nearly half the collection consists of world atlases, but there are also eight marine atlases, three national atlases, three military atlases, and two volumes of town plans and views.

Organisation

The maps and atlases have been catalogued individually and have the shelfmark 'Bart.'.

Acquisition

The collection was presented to the Library in 1995 by the Bartholomew family in memory of John Bartholomew, having been on deposit in the Library from 1985.

Related collections

The publishers Harper Collins, who bought the firm in 1989, and John C Bartholomew (1923-2008) and family, donated the firm's business records, working maps and plates to the Library between 1983 and 2013 to form the Bartholomew Archive. The archive is part of the Library's archive and manuscript collections at Acc.10222 (but is stored as part of the Library's map collections).

Online resources

Library webpages on the Bartholomew Archive

A 1525 edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia (Bart.32)