Sheet 61ne, Old Series 1". c1853. First edition. Shropshire: Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge, Shifnal. Hand-coloured engraving

Sheet  61ne, Old Series 1". c1853. First edition. Shropshire: Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge, Shifnal. Hand-coloured engraving, 29 x 36cm. All dates trimmed. Folded, trimmed to map edge with legend and base map date 1833 glued on back. Clean,  bright colours. In good condition.

The colour selection is from an earlier specification, found on the earliest maps of Mid Wales, preceding the more familiar standard legend that soon followed. Principally, a pale green is used for alluvium and dark green and green are used for igneous rocks that are now coloured shades of purple, orange, and red. In this map a brown wavy line over pale brown is used for the New Red Sandstone. The usual ‘first edition’ maps in this area give the geological mapping dates as a range such as 1853/55 and have a slightly expanded legend. On this map which omits the geological dates, we take it as 1852/53 in view of the of the colours. RARE.

About the England & Wales One Inch Old Series

The Geological Survey of England and Wales used the Old Series of the Ordnance Survey topographic map at a scale of one inch to the mile as its basemap, initially. These engraved basemaps were published and revised between 1805 and 1885; the sheet sizes varied and the layout and numbering system were eccentric. The Old Series geological maps were hand-coloured and without geological sections, which were published separately. The GS of E&W published the Old Series from 1850 to 1900, when it switched to the colour printing and the New Series one inch maps. However, old stock of the Old Series continued to be issued, hand-coloured, until the 1930s.

See also: Index Map for England & Wales One Inch Old Series.