Hi!

Just a quickie one!

Once my Bart's set is complete, what are my chances of getting hold of a full set of 7th Series in the modern red cover?

Were all 189 of them published in that format?

Chris Williams

If you mean the full red covers showing an outline of places on the map, which became the Ordnance Survey's "house style" in 1968, and aren't concerned about whether or not the map is old enough to be out of copyright (like me), then you can find them all on eBay for small change. One Inch maps were the OS' flagship product, and sold by the bucketload.


Yes, they were. Even maps that weren't revised after 1968 (generally the Scottish Highlands) had the red covers applied to them.

Presumably if you wanted a full set of the previous format you'd need 191 - i.e. including 138, 151, and 138/151.

Hi!


Yes the ones with the all-red front cover and white box surrounding the place-names as per the magenta covers on the first 1:50000 Series are the ones I'm intending to collect - I saw about 25 in a bookshop this morning but my pocket-money said no!

Thanks for the link to that listing! Where will I find the B/ revision indicator?

Chris Williams

Bottom left of the map, just beneath the copyright date.

I'm currently in the process of collecting the same series, and as of now have a total of 47, so a bit of a way to go yet!

I only go for the ones in a real decent condition though, so I could at least double that number with tatty ones I've seen in different places if I wanted to.

It's not dead easy unless money is no object. I started collecting them in 2003 and completed my set (England and Wales only) in 2006, after constant checking of eBay, 2nd-hand bookshops and charity shops. I didn't mind the quality too much - it's quite interesting to see what people have used them for - but I usually wasn't prepared to pay more than £1.50 each for a mass-produced item like this.

Once or twice a complete set came up for sale, and if I hadn't already bought a lot of the maps I would've bid harder for one of those sets. Also a complete unfolded set came up for sale once - I think some were specially produced for an OS anniversary.

Anyway, good luck, it's a nice hobby and you end up with a prized possession that's actually quite useful, as well as being, IMO, one of the finest examples of mapmaking that has ever been produced.

Hi!

So far I've bagged one set of the Wales Maps and an assortment of England ones, only 143 of 'em to go now! I've got a nasty feeling Sheets 1-24, (I managed to get Sheet 25 (Portree) recently) and particularly 1-4 tho' are going to be almost impossible to get!

Chris Williams

This is the thing, as a student I've got to prioritise my money anyway, but even when I do fancy picking up a few, or find some that I haven't got, most of the time the maps are stupidly priced. I agree I'd only pay up to £2, even when they're in pretty good condition. The sad fact is that they're not even that valuable or rare (except some of the Scottish sheets) so why traders and booksellers price them so high is beyond me.

I entirely agree! A local bookshop sells them at £2 each which I've no quibble with, the only difficulty being with collecting maps like these is when you've collected the majority of them, you end up finding the same ones you've already got coming up over and over again, and the ones you're needing decidedly rare or expensive!

For example, I've collected about 44 of the Bart's Half-Inch 'Globe' series and nearly every one newly listed on fleabay is one I've already got!

Chris Williams

The previous format itself comes in three different formats - short covers, long covers and laminated (long) covers. You can't get a full set in the short cover (it was replaced by the long cover in January 1960, and several sheets were published later than this), but all sheets were published in the long cover, laminated cover and all-red cover.

The combined sheet 138/151 dates from 1965, around about the time that the laminated cover was introduced. I can't recall seeing 138/151 in an unlaminated cover, nor can I recall seeing 138 or 151 in laminated covers, so it may be that there is no format in which you can get all 191 "sheets".

Graham

So far I've collected 154 of 'em, but as per usual, all the ones coming up on fleabay and Amazon & the bookshops are 107, 108, 138/151, 140, 145/146, 181, 182, 187, 190 practially every time!

Sheets covering Lincolnshire, The North West, the Borders, Scotland, the North East and the Peak District etc., seem to be conspicuous by their absense!

Why on earth are there so many Wales, Chilterns and South Coast/South West sheets everywhere and none of the others? For example, I've not seen sheets 94 (Preston), 102 (Doncaster), 103 (Gainsborough), 114 (Boston & Skegness) and 148 (Saffron Walden) anywhere at all, shop, fleabay or Amazon!

Chris Williams

I've managed to acquire the whole of the Seventh Series, though they are a mixture of cover styles and editions. I have multiple copies of some sheets, which I've kept if they are different revisions and show interesting changes. Quite a lot of my coverage of northern Scotland and the Northern and Western Isles is in the GSGS (military) uncovered series, as there was a second-hand bookshop in Stroud that had a lot of these.

Hi!

Now collected 174 of the red-cover One-Inch Maps, a lot are of the earlier index style with the dark-red silouhette of Gt Britain as the Sheet key on the reverse side of the cover - the latest style is a pink sea with a white Gt Britain silouhette!

Still having trouble with are:-

Sheet 39 Strathdon
Sheet 44 Coll & Tiree
Sheet 57 Islay
Sheet 65 Kintyre
Sheet 72 Girvan
Sheet 75 Dumfries & Gretna
Sheet 87 I.O.M. 1969 with extra Tourist info!
Sheet 94 Preston
Sheet 120 Burton Upon Trent

I've three more Welsh sheets to collect but there's tons of them so I'm leaving them till last of all!

If any Member has any of these in the Red-Cover format they're willing to pass on to me please PM me with details & how much!

Chris Williams