GEOGRAPHIA & GEOGRAPHERS
Geographia and Geographers Maps
Geographia
Geographia was founded in 1910 by Hungarian Alexander Gross (1879-1958, F.R.G.S. 1913) as the "Geographia" Designing & Publishing Co. Ltd, initially (and briefly) at 11 Adam St, Strand, London, then at 33 Strand; moving to 55 Fleet St (1914) and then (c. 1939) to 167 Fleet St; in 1941 to 68 Fleet St; 1950s to 114 Fleet St. For a few years from 1923 it was known as Geographia (1923) Ltd after Gross had earlier been ousted from control of the company and was to move to America to run his publishing interests there. Geographia used (on some maps at least) the ‘Cumberland’ system of date-coding its maps (see notes on map dating). The company should not to be confused with Geographers’ Map company, of which more later.
One of Gross's earliest maps was of the 1911 coronation procession;; Geographia also published his first wife's children's stories. War maps had always been a fruitful line of business for map publishers and Gross first came to prominence in Britain with his various maps covering the Balkan wars that preceded WW1, playing on his insights of the area from his Hungarian background. These maps were syndicated across numerous national and regional newspapers. On the outbreak of WW1 Geographia produced both the Daily Telegraph war map and the News Chronicle War Map (the latter soon replaced by a G. W.Bacon map). There seems to have been some bad blood between Geographia and Bacon: the latter, in advertising their war maps, stressed ‘Don’t get maps made by foreigners’ – who could they have had in mind?
Geographia produced several street atlases and plans of London and other major cities, including small-scale maps of their environs. One early product (by 1914) of interest to cyclists was a shilling Map of 50 Miles round London – ‘the most up-to-date Map for Motorists, Cyclists etc. Scale 2 miles to 1”. Size 30” by 40” showing gradients and dangerous points in a novel and effective manner’.
By 1913 the firm was advertising its road maps – ‘for Motorists, Cyclists & Pedestrians’. One of their first products was a half-inch series of England and Wales, published in 19 sheets – ‘The Most Detailed, Clearest and most Reliable Maps ever Published’. This seems to have first appeared in 1914, and was novel in indicating golf courses. A similar series was produced for Scotland. These early maps are not attractive to look at, with no colouring apart from main roads in red and a cluttered style (their street maps, by contrast, were models of clarity). They do however show even minor roads and were competitively priced, initial prices being 1/6 paper, 2/6 cloth for a generous 30½” by 40”.
Later editions were coloured to show “A” roads (red) and “B” roads (green), with selected other roads in dashed-green. Included were distances between towns underlined in red. In this style several locally-centred maps were also published, e.g. ‘Forty miles around Bath’. The covers of the maps boasted ‘This beautifully coloured series of Road Maps are indispensable to the Tourist or Business Man, whose destination is off the main road, as in addition to the first and second class roads being indicated, other roads and tracks are very clearly shown’. Unfortunately, it didn’t state that half the minor roads were themselves tracks.
Shortly after the appearance of the half-inch series, and using the same underlying mapping, Geographia produced a series of maps at three miles to an inch, entitled the Contour Road Map of England & Wales, in ten sheets. Sheet size was a generous 31” by 40”, with a similar series for Scotland in six sheets. These first appeared around 1920; for a while an edition was sold as The Times Contour Motoring Maps. At this smaller scale the maps were very cluttered, with too many places named (even farms) which was not really to the purpose of maps on this scale. These maps showed main, secondary and remaining roads (uncoloured) and road distances. Steep hills on main roads were shown by two transverse red lines, the longer indicating the upper end. As with the half-inch maps, minor roads included a great many unsurfaced roads, so whilst the maps were fine if you kept to the main roads, they were completely unreliable off them. Contour-colouring layers began at 100’, 250’, 500’, 750’, 1000’, 1500’ etc. Some editions of these maps were branded as ‘Cyclists’ Maps’, though with no cyclist-specific detail to justify the title. Later editions of these maps were not contour-coloured.
I can’t say I am a fan of the Geographia (and later Geographers) maps: they fell way below the standard set by Bartholomew and the Ordnance Survey small-scale maps. Yet they must have sold in substantial numbers, judging by the numbers kicking round the internet, which I can only attribute to their cheapness and the company saturating the market with locally-targeted or named editions.
In 1923 the firm went into receivership, with debts of £47,000 and Gross was declared bankrupt (discharged 1929). The company was sold for £9,000 to Hutchinson & Co., the new concern being named Geographia (1923) before reverting to the former name in 1925.
Post WW1 Geographia produced a set of regional ‘Road Atlases and Route Guides’, at sixpence each on cloth. The maps were very basic, though with the route summaries may have been of some use in tour planning. The maps were later revamped as the ninepenny Cyclists’ Maps, covered below. A national volume for England & Wales was also sold. A Popular Atlas and Route Guide to the British Isles, by Alexander Gross, was advertised 1925-26 by Loxley Brothers Ltd of Sheffield, dealers in surplus/bankruptcy stock. The atlas was stated as containing 94 sectional maps, one large coloured map and 400 selected routes. The oddity is that this referred to Gross, not Geographia, whereas the Geographia products had (for the first time) no reference to Gross.
.jpg)
Published in the 1930s was a series of ninepenny Cyclists’ Maps, sheets 1 – 4 covering England & Wales, Sheet 5 Scotland and Sheet 6 Ireland. Main roads were coloured red, the few other roads included coloured black, but no other detail was given except town names so they were very basic. The only nod to cycling was the picture of happy cyclists on the covers. Sharing the same covers and price were the Geographia Cyclists’ Map 30 Miles around London (scale approx. 1:220,000) and a similar 25 Miles about Manchester. These used the more detailed Geographia mapping, but only highlighting main roads. A great number of cheap, more local maps were published by Geographia.
Geographia was bought by Bartholomew in 1985; in 1991 both became part of Harper Collins.
Geographers’ Map Company
This was set up by Alexander Gross in 1936, the shareholders being his son Anthony and daughter, Phyllis Pearsall (1906 – 96). In practice it was Phyllis who ran the company: how much of its success was down to her personal efforts and how much due to the backing of her father, then working in America having lost control of the British Geographia company, has been the subject of some debate. In any event, until Gross’s death in 1958 the maps were branded as ‘produced under the direction of Alexander Gross F.R.G.S.’.
Its first production, the A to Z street atlas and guide to London, was by no means the first of its type but became undoubtedly the best known. The brand was expanded to provide A to Z maps for most towns and cities in Britain. District maps were also produced, mainly of London and the Home Counties and in a style very similar to the products of Geographia. Indeed, the maps and street atlases seem to have been aimed as a direct challenge to the Geographia company, for example the latter’s London to the Sea being matched by London to the Coast. Was this Gross seeking revenge for having to yield control of the earlier company, one he had set up?
The company address was 24 Grays Inn Road, changing from c. 1945 to 24 – 27 High Holborn, London followed by relocation to Sevenoaks in 1962. Since 1972 the company has been known as Geographers A-Z. It is now part of Harper Collins.
____________________________________________________