LARBY
E. J. Larby Ltd Maps
E. J. Larby Ltd was based at 1 Paternoster Avenue (from around 1900: in 1908-14 additionally at 15 Paternoster Square), at 30 Paternoster Row, London (circa 1916 to 1938, though also using 1 Paternoster Ave in 1921: the two premises were adjacent) and (from March 1938) at 9 Old Bailey, London.
Ernest James Larby (1870 – 1940), a onetime rider with Catford C.C., had a background in road transport and publishing. His company (E. J. Larby Ltd from 1916) specialised in sporting publications, transport-related matter and maps. In some cases these maps were rather dated products relinquished by other publishers, an exception being the Roadfaring Guides by Reginald Wellbye, appearing either side of WW1. The firm was wholesale agents for other publishers, notably those of Cycling magazine, and their proprietors, Temple Press.
The firm published a quarter-inch (largely by Bartholomew) series of ‘New Handy Maps’, which it had taken over from Houlston & Sons on the latter firm’s demise: the only ‘new’ feature was the publisher’s name and their only merit was cheapness. The full Houlston set of 64 maps (retaining the original list numberings) was still on sale in the 1920s. Alongside these it published some of the old Bacon 5m to an inch maps slightly enlarged, with main roads highlighted in red. Prices by 1920 were 4d on paper, 7d on cloth.
Around 1900 Larby was selling standard versions of Bartholomew quarter-inch maps, printed ‘on weatherproof cloth’ – pegamoid – as also used by W. H.Smith and G. Philip.
In 1910 Larby republished an expanded edition of Charles Spencer’s The Cyclist's and Automobilist's Road Book, a guide to the main roads of England, Wales and part of Scotland, with gazetteer of towns. This had been through a series of publishers and name changes. A further addition, revised by Reginald Wellbye, was published by Larby in 1925. Larby took over publication of the Profile Road Book from Cycling magazine.
From about 1910 Larby published a Cycling & Motoring Map of the Country Round London, “specially drawn by W. & A. K. Johnston Ltd”. This was Johnston’s standard three miles to an inch mapping first appearing about 1900; main roads were highlighted in red but the map was otherwise uncoloured. It was later sold under a 25 Miles Round London cover.
In 1914 Larby acquired the firm of H. Grube Ltd, ‘Map sellers and Globe makers’, of 12a Paternoster Row, wholesale publishers of many cycling books and maps (including the Bartholomew Pocket Series), on that firm’s demise.
Before WW1 Larby had sold standard versions of Bartholomew quarter-inch maps, printed on weatherproof cloth – pegamoid. In the 1920s the firm was co-publisher of English Roads at a Glance (see under George Philip).
Larby’s Road Map of 50 miles Round London was Bacon’s Cycling Map of the Country Round London, with retitled cover. By 1932 the 50 miles Round London title was applied to a Bartholomew-sourced 8m to an inch map. Another product was an uninspiring Cycling Map of the Midlands, produced for Larby by G. W. Bacon: this was actually that firm’s large-print Motoring Map and probably the same as a later (1925) Midlands Road Map.
In 1938 the firm published Bartholomew quarter-inch mapping on very large sheet sizes (up to 43” by 33”). These were uncoloured except for Arterial (blue), First Class (red) and Second Class (dashed-red) roads. Unusually for this date they lacked MoT numbers, though these were added to later editions. The sheets were somewhat unwieldy for cyclists and the lack of contour colouring told against them. Post WW2 these sheets were supplemented by others produced for Larby by Cartographers’ Map Company.
In 1938 Larby published the CTC’s Scenic Atlas & Gazetteer, which included suggested tours for cyclists. This was authored by Reginald Wellbye and included maps in the informal style of his earlier Roadfaring Guides.
A long-lived Larby product was the Route Marking Map of England & Wales. This catered for the inner trainspotter who liked to red-ink in on a map those roads he (and I think I am safe in saying ‘he’) had cycled along. It was actually a standard Bartholomew 16m to an inch map without road colouring. Around 1940 this was replaced by very similar map, by Cartographers Ltd: in fact this seems to have been a near-copy of the Bartholomew map, as it repeated the blunder of showing one road no one would ever colour in – the clifftop road from Barmston to Bridlington, lost to the sea seventy years before.
From (I estimate) just before WW2, Larby published a set of four maps covering England and Wales at 8 miles to an inch, again by Cartographers Ltd. These were cheap (1/-) and cheerful, bur of no particular value to cyclists.
From about 1933 the firm was being run by Ernest William Larby (son of E. J.). The firm later became Cassell Larby and was finally dissolved in 1983. I have not come across any maps produced by the firm later than those mentioned above.