W. & A.K. JOHNSTON
W. & A. K. Johnston Maps
The Edinburgh firm of W. & A.K. Johnston, established 1825, was one of the major map and atlas publishing houses of the 19th century. William Johnston (1802–1888) and his brother Alexander Keith Johnston (1804–1871) originally trained as engravers, and founded the firm in 1826. From 1879 to the end of the firm's independence their printing was undertaken at the Edina Works, off Easter Road, Edinburgh. During the period we are considering their offices were based first at 16 South Saint Andrew Street in Edinburgh's New Town; 1895-98 saw them at 7 Hanover St, before relocating to 20 Saint Andrew St (which in 1906 became 2 St Andrew Square). They also maintained London offices at 74 Strand (from 1870), moving to 18 Paternoster Row (1877), thereafter (1884) 5 White Hart St, Warwick Lane. The firm was incorporated as W. & A. K. Johnston Ltd in 1901 and the same year their London address changed to 7 Paternoster Square. In 1908 the firm moved to 6 Paternoster Buildings, followed by various other London addresses (1932 Tavistock St), culminating with 30 Museum St.
They produced a variety of town and estate maps, as well as miscellaneous other maps, atlases and globes for commercial and educational concerns, including maps for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. They produced small-scale ‘Tourist’ and county maps published by W. Blackwood. They were at one time agents for the sale of Ordnance Survey maps in Scotland. Many examples of their maps may be viewed on the National Library of Scotland website
Their Travelling Map of Scotland was a 10m to an inch product, derived from their Royal Atlas. This had no particular cycling attributes. About the same time, 1880, Johnston’s published a set of ‘School Board’ maps of Scotland on a scale of 2½ miles to an inch: although of useful scale for cyclists and cheap they were “not suitable for bicyclists”.
In 1889 Johnston produced their Modern County Atlas of England & Wales, at seven miles to an inch, based on counties or groups of counties distinguished by background colour. The same year they also published a map of England and Wales – the ‘Modern Map', on the same scale and base. This appeared as four quarter-sheets, folded pocket-size, for the convenience of travellers, 2/6 and 3/6 per sheet. The map itself, though beautifully engraved, was monochrome and contained no additional information for the traveller as was starting to appear on contemporary maps. However, these and companion maps for Scotland and Ireland had a most curious revival, being resurrected in the 1920s for a series of road maps for Dunlop, blown up to four miles to an inch. A rather arbitrary selection of Main and Secondary roads was highlighted, (pre- MoT numbering) and a few random minor roads added rather crudely, not all of them motorable. The maps were intended to be distributed under the names of local garages and Dunlop agents, a space on the cover left for this to be over-printed. Even if intended as freebies these virtually useless maps cannot have done much for the Dunlop image, nor Johnston’s
1891 saw publication of their Popular Map of Scotland – “for Tourists, Excursionists, Cyclists and Huntsmen”, 25” by 37”. In 1893 they issued three maps on a common theme but otherwise unrelated – the Lake Districts of England, Scotland and Ireland; probably ex-atlas, as each was 12½” by 9½”.
Johnston’s Initial Series of Reduced Ordnance Maps
Between 1887 and 1896 Johnston produced a series of ‘Reduced Ordnance Maps’ covering virtually all of Scotland in about sixty sheets. These were literally duplicates of the First Edition Ordnance Survey one-inch map, produced by photo-lithography, with some loss of clarity, to a reduced scale of ¾” to a mile (1:85,000). About half the sheets are available to view on the National Library of Scotland website.
Sheet borders largely followed the boundaries of pairs of one-inch sheets. The OS originals were black and white, but the Johnston maps used blue and green for water and woodland areas respectively. Colour was also used to highlight county/parish boundaries and railways, the latter (but not station names) overlaid in a separate red layer. An unfortunate result was that stations on later railways were often omitted. It is odd that both Bartholomew and Johnston were highlighting railways on maps whose scales rendered them most useful for road-users. In the case of the Johnston maps this may have been so that railway developments could readily be incorporated on the overlay, while the background map could be left to age gracefully. Although no road surface information was included, the maps were contoured and reproduced the OS’s few spot heights. In terms of accuracy they were of course a significant improvement over all pre-OS maps. Prices were 1/- paper, 2/- on cloth (dissected): this and the greater coverage resulting from the reduction in scale made them significantly cheaper than the Ordnance Survey’s own maps – in 1887 the two OS sheets, similarly mounted on cloth, would have cost you seven shillings. It has been suggested that pressure from the OS, who were becoming more commercially minded, may have led to their production, or revision, being curtailed. This was a pity, as it would only have taken a little ‘cycling’ customisation to have overcome the OS’s objections and we might today refer to ‘Johnston’s three-quarter Inch’ maps with the same reverence as we do with ‘Bartholomew’s Half-inch’ maps.
In 1881 W. & A. K. Johnston had produced a Railway and Road Map of the Edinburgh district. This was to form the base of an 1894 Cycling Road Map of Edinburghshire [Later ‘County of Edinburgh’] and Portions of the Adjoining Counties, scale approximately 1:205,000, or 3¼ miles to an inch, with modest hachuring. Size was 18” by 15” and counties were distinguished by colour. This later map lacked contours or spot heights, and did not indicate most railway stations. Radial circles indicated distances from Edinburgh, with main roads shown in red but otherwise this was simply the 1881 map rebranded as a cyclists’ map. Some brief details of routes were included in an accompanying pamphlet. Both the earlier and later maps are viewable on the National Library of Scotland website, as is their 1897 successor using the new 3m to an inch mapping, described following.
Appearing in 1894 were two small-scale Cycling Road Maps (approximately 11m to an inch) - Central & Northern Districts of Scotland, and South of Scotland & North of England, 1/- paper, 1/6 on cloth – They were truly awful, neither roads or railways being trustworthy, and lacking any topographical detail, other than showing some spot-heights. 'We would advise publishers who have no knowledge of cycling and the roads suited thereto to mark all roads in the same way so that the expert may not be tempted to laugh at the ingorance of the editor…We trust that before any further editions of this map are published some cyclist may have the sheets submitted to him for correction' – CTC Gazette.
From c.1900 there was some tie-up with the firm of G. W. Bacon, though the two firms maintained their autonomy. The new firm of Johnston & Bacon was established in 1945 but both the Johnston and Bacon single names were used for some time thereafter on ongoing products; for example the earliest sheets in the half-inch map series produced from 1950 referred only to W. & A. K. Johnston Ltd.
1901 saw publication of a two-sheet Cycling Road Map of Ireland. A 1904 Johnston advert refers to a new Orographical Map of Scotland –
In issuing this very interesting map the Publishers trust it will be well received by long-distance riders, both Cyclist and Motorist. In going a distance on any form of Machine it is well to know what class of country you will traverse. This new Map shows all this in a wonderfully distinct way. Land is coloured to show Six Elevations from Sea-Level to 4000 feet. The price of this map [2/- on cloth] is kept very low.
As the scale of this map was 10 miles to an inch it would have been for tour planning only, wonderful or not.
Under the Johnston name were two long-lived series at 3 miles to an inch, initially separately for Scotland and England & Wales, and a later half-inch map derived from it. The 3-mile mapping was also used for a road atlas, perpetuated until the 1970s, and numerous other spin-off series of maps – for a base map which changed so little it turns up under several names and editions.. It is the main Johnson product of relevance to cycling.
Johnston’s 3 miles to an inch Maps of Scotland - Early Editions
In 1895 Johnston produced the initial sheet of an important new series covering Scotland at 3 miles to an inch. Like most map producers, they were boastful of their product:
This important Map of Scotland comprises Sixteen Sheets, each Plate measuring 18 by 28 inches. It is engraved from the latest Ordnance Survey, Checked and Corrected with the assistance of Residents in nearly every town and village in the country. In this way many important corrections and omissions have been obtained, making the complete Work thoroughly up to date in every respect, and the most perfect Map which has yet been engraved”.
A limited number of main roads were highlighted in brown, the coverage gradually being expanded on later additions. In view of the number of important roads excluded from this selection, it is most odd that one route included was that from Blair Atholl to Braemar, much of it then (as now) only a footpath. This was highlighted, uniquely, by a dashed rather than continuous brown line, but must have led many cyclists astray. It remains today the province of the experienced mountain biker.
In 1897 Johnston’s Cyclists Map of Edinburgh & District, previously based on a railway map, was reissued using the new 3m to an inch mapping then being produced. Included with the map was a booklet covering 15 radial routes from Edinburgh. The map was folded to a very compact 86mm by 134mm and, mounted on cloth, a good shillingsworth. A similar cycling map for the Glasgow area was produced, complete with 21 described routes. These two maps were later termed ‘District’ maps, now 1/6d on cloth and advertised as 22” by 17”. The descriptive Tourist Guides included therewith were still centred on the cycling routes, and later expanded to include “contour Diagrams showing the Undulations of the Road”.
Alongside the numbered sheets and the Glasgow and Edinburgh cycling maps were two special sheets – Edinburgh, Perth & Dundee, and Glasgow, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs, produced in 1896. The latter map appears to be the first noted as having each county shown in a separate background tint, whereas the contemporary numbered sheets had only the county boundaries highlighted as first issued. This fully-tinted style – which hardly improved readability – was extended to subsequent editions of the whole numbered series, now described as for ‘Cyclists, Tourists and Automobilists’. Three further special sheets were soon added:
- Lothians, Peebles & Berwick etc
- Ayrshire and parts of adjoining counties
- Kirkcudbright, Wigtown etc,
and possibly others. These indicated dangerous hills.
Maps were still coloured by county. There were now two categories of coloured roads, Main and Secondary, both in the same reddish/brown. These seem to have been based on the categorisation on the Ordnance Survey map, as a footnote on some sheets explains the absence of the first category as due to there being none shown on the equivalent OS coverage. In 1900 Johnston were advertising transparent celluloid cases suitable for maps and from 1901 the 3m series were advertised as available in a bespoke Horne’s Patent Celluloid Map Case - ‘Sets Wind and Rain at defiance’ - for 2/6d.
The Scottish series, along with the corresponding England & Wales series, was reissued in 1906 with no colouring by county, so reverting to the original style. These maps can be distinguished from the earliest uncoloured editions by the inclusion of the ‘Reduced from the Ordnance Survey’ acknowledgement, as well as of course road and railway revision and ‘Ltd’ added to the firm’s name. Topographical names, contours (still only at 500ft intervals), heights and main roads were still shown in brown. The series was now issued as ‘W. & A.K. Johnston’s Reliable Motor Map of Scotland’.
Since 1891 Johnston had been issuing its World-Wide Atlas, and the World-Wide name was used for an 8 mile to an inch map of Scotland issued in 1907 – later to become their Tourist and Motoring Map of Scotland. included on the map were tables of distances along principal routes. There was a similar map of England & Wales. The same ‘brand’ was, somewhat oddly, also applied to a very limited selection of new 3m to an inch maps – the World-Wide Series of Motoring & Cycling Maps’ – which appeared in 1906-7. These shared the current map style, but not sheet areas. Also under the World-Wide title was a 1907 strip map of London to Edinburgh, to rival the Gall & Inglis product, though on the 3m to an inch scale.
In 1911 the Scottish series began to be reissued with contour colouring, and now named Motoring and Cycling maps. This was similarly applied to the England & Wales series. The contour interval in Scotland was now 250ft: in England and Wales the contours were now at 300’, 500’, 800’, 1000’ etc. The post-WW1 development is resumed below.
Johnston’s 3 mile to an inch Map of England & Wales - Early Editions
The maps were a little more detailed than the contemporary and rival 3m to an inch map series produced by George Philip (see separate page), but this distinction consisted mainly of showing more byways and tracks, and as there was no distinction between these and cyclable (or motorable) roads this was a mixed blessing.
While the England & Wales series was in course of publication, special area maps on the same scale (and using the same mapping) were also being produced - ‘Johnston’s Cycling & Motoring Maps’. These covered the London area (five maps, 1901), Newcastle area, Stockton area, and the Lake District. The maps had main and principal crossroads highlighted in red with ‘Danger’ and ‘Caution’ hills marked. Rather pointlessly, counties were still individually coloured, which served little purpose for cyclists and hindered legibility at night.The London maps also had circles at 3-mile intervals from Charing Cross. These special sheets were not revised or republished but those covering London – presumably unsold stock - were advertised after WW1 as The “Way To” Motoring & Cycling Maps by publishers Morgan & Hoadly.
New editions of the maps appeared in 1908. Before WW1 the original 25 sheets for England and Wales were reduced to 23 by changes along the south coast. In 1914 the maps were re-issued in contour coloured format published by the Temple Press, which had developed and diversified from ‘The Offices of “Cycling”’. These maps were branded under the names of its two publications – The Motor and MotorCycling. The latter was not, of course, directed especially at motorcyclists, as its advertising made clear – rather for motorists and cyclists.
Johnston’s 3 mile to an inch - Later Editions
After World War 1 Johnston continued with their series of 3 miles to an inch sheet maps of England, Wales and Scotland, which may be treated as one long-lived series, rather than two separate ones as in their early history, although they were still numbered separately. These maps later had colourful covers, giving a description of area covered (e.g. Cotswolds).
In 1932 an attractive touring map, using the contour-coloured 3m to an inch mapping, was published of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Central Scotland, viewable on the NLS website and highlighting places of interest. The price was an equally attractive 1/- paper, 2/6 cloth. A similar sheet was published for London & S.E. England.
In parallel with the Johnston-branded series, there appeared around 1925 a series of the same mapping, with sheets defined by a peculiar letter or pair of letters system rather than number. The double-letter sheets post-date the earlier single-letter sheets, and brought the total to 33. Coverage of the Scottish islands, northernmost mainland and part of the Northumberland coast was still missing, though sheets for these areas were to appear – at least on the index map – for a short time. The mystery was that on the early editions no publisher’s name was given, either on the cover or the map itself – they were totally anonymous. Circa 1933 a date code and attribution to W. & A. K. Johnston were added to the map (but not cover).
I can find no explanation for the initial anonymity, but the perpetuation of the series from the 1920s to the 1950s and the fact that they still turn up in numbers second-hand suggests that they were reasonably successful commercially, even if perhaps not sold in the conventional way.
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The maps continued in production after WW2, from the late 1940s with a new garish green illustration and sketch map on the cover, and advertised for ‘Motoring, Cycling and Hiking’; only later was a one shilling price added. Even post-war the series was highlighting ‘Main Roads’ only; in practice only “A” roads and not all of those. Once off the main routes road quality was guesswork, which made the maps far less informative than their contemporaries.
Alongside this initially-anonymous series, the standard Johnston mapping was still continued, i.e. a 23-sheet series for England and Wales with contour-colouring (‘Altitude Tints’). The Scottish series of sixteen sheets was continued alongside. From the 1920s they showed MoT road classification (though not actual numbers), and have a coloured picture of a contemporary car on the front cover. There was also a 10m to the inch Johnston map of England and Wales, sharing the same picture cover.The identical maps of both the England & Wales and Scotland series were also published in 1924 in Ward, Lock and Co. branded picture covers. Prices were 1/6d paper, 2/- on cloth.
A Johnston road atlas of Great Britain containing this 3m to an inch mapping (with rather garish contour-colouring) first appeared in 1939 as a Daily Mail (Associated Press) special offer with the first Johnston-branded version following in 1940. The atlas included all of the Scottish mainland at the full scale (unlike many atlases) but omitted the Outer Hebrides as well as Orkney and Shetland. Early editions of the atlas distinguished only Class A roads (in red, but without MoT numbers: Johnston were slow in displaying these, or those for B roads), all other roads were shown uncoloured. It was advertised as ‘for motorists, cyclists and hikers’ – which given that it included several tracks only suitable for walkers was perhaps appropriate. The trouble was that a great many ‘roads’ shown fell into that category. As a guide to what passed for a cart road in the 1890s it is invaluable, as a motoring atlas it was completely untrustworthy. Perhaps, being wartime, it was intended to be left around to mislead any German paratroopers. Nevertheless, It went through annual reprinting and various editions until the 1970s, when someone kindly drove a stake through its heart.
The whole history of the Johnston 3m to an inch family of sheet maps is one of stagnation. Whilst the main road network was updated to reflect new construction and road classifications the base map was seriously out of date. By WW2 the mapping, both of the atlas and the kindred individual maps, was already fifty years old and and this underlying age is revealed by the omission of older road schemes. In Scotland it still showed a ‘road’ (actually the older and poorer of the two pony tracks) to the summit of Ben Nevis, and named the observatory and hotel there, which had closed in 1903 and 1916 respectively. Whilst the inclusion of mere cart tracks (and worse) may have been acceptable when the maps first appeared, bearing in mind motor traffic was then of no consequence, the failure to update the road network and excise or downgrade those routes unsuitable for cyclists, let alone motor vehicles, made them unfit for purpose. Some of these inter-valley routes shown in Scotland had meanwhile vanished from the O.S. one-inch map. Only after WW2 was some grading of the minor road network introduced and the worst anomalies addressed.
The series produced an offspring in the late 1940s - Johnston’s ‘Readyfold Coloured Touring Maps’, of England & Wales in 16 sheets. This again was a fully-coloured version of the 3m to an inch mapping, including contour-colouring and main and secondary roads highlighted: in practice this meant “A” and “B” roads plus a very few others. The novelty was that any horizontal slice of the map could be viewed without having to unfold the map fully, and the small cover size was convenient for the pocket. A disadvantage was that the map could not be unfolded to show the whole area (a disadvantage shared with modern phone-based maps!). Place-names of towns and more important villages were shown more prominently, though the choice of places selected, particularly in Wales, was rather arbitrary. Available only on cloth, and initially at 4/6, these maps were relatively expensive for the period, though not in relation to the generous area covered. They also had to compete with ‘standard’ editions of the 3m to an inch map as well as the new half-inch map introduced by Johnston shortly after.
Alongside the Readyfold series there appeared a revised edition of the standard 3m to an inch map, in drab blue covers, at 2/- a sheet on paper (no cloth-backed version). The maps were in the contour-coloured format of the traditional maps, but had the sheet areas of the 33 ‘Motoring, Cycling & Hiking’ maps described above, numbers replacing letters. Of these, only 29 sheets reappeared, the three sheets for northernmost Scotland not reappearing as well as that for the Isle of Man. Only “A” and “B” roads were distinguished by colour, which meant that all minor roads, tracks and some paths were still lumped together, rather than subdivided as in the same publisher’s new half-inch series (and the 3m to an inch maps themselves prior to WW1!). Passenger railways had not been updated since the 1920s, so were now completely unreliable. The maps must have had a very limited sale, but struggled on into the 1960s (yellow covers, 2/6d).
Johnston’s Half-Inch Series
Another main series, commenced in 1950 but with sheets appearing over several years, was ‘Johnston’s New 2 miles to 1 inch’ maps, covering England, Wales and mainland Scotland in 43 sheets (not initially numbered), with a standard colourful picture cover. The map content and style was largely influenced by the old 3m to an inch mapping (still in production), as despite complete redrawing to the larger scale virtually the same roads and place names were shown, though the latter were in a new, clearer font.
The maps had contour-colouring at the same sparse intervals as the 3m to an inch maps. Initially only “A” and “B” roads were highlighted (continuous red and dashed red), with all unclassified roads uncoloured: soon a selection of better minor roads categorised by red dots was indicated, while “the uncoloured roads are inferior and not to be recommended” (strangely, the same wording as had been used by Bartholomew half a century before). Although an attractive-looking map, distance added enchantment. The reliability of minor road detail was poor in that included within the ‘inferior’ category were many tarred roads as well as routes no more than bridleways. Whilst the same criticism can be addressed to Bartholomew’s half-inch maps of the period, the latter had more contours and spot-heights and so was the more cycle-friendly map.
Initially the sheets seem to have been available only in cloth-backed format, price 3/6, almost immediately (1951) increased to 4/6. Later a paper version at 3/- was introduced. Inevitably, further price rises were to take place over time. Although some of the earliest sheets were dated on first issue, this was dropped. Motorways were added to the key from about 1958, even on sheets with no motorways. By this time the attribution was Johnston & Bacon.
In the 1970s the series was republished as the ’30 Miles Around’ series, with extensive updates and all tarred minor roads reliably indicated and the shedding of much dead wood. Although sheet areas and names were generally similar to the earlier series, not all were re-issued. An interesting feature was that the maps had no separate cover, but came in a transparent sleeve, as first employed by Johnston in 1900.
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