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Richard Oliver's Ordnance Survey Maps will be of interest mainly to those using superseded editions of Ordnance Survey (os) maps for historical research. These old maps contain concrete evidence on such processes as the spread of cities, the depletion of forests, the erosion of coastlines, the change of drainage patterns, and modifications in agricultural procedures. Such changes, gradual but relentless, are clearly documented in the successive editions of os maps.
The text opens with a five - page history of the os, which is adequate because other much more detailed histories are readily available, including A History of the Ordnance Survey, edited by W.A. Seymour, and Ordnance Survey Maps: A Descriptive Manual, by Brian Harley. For those particularly interested in the os maps of Ireland, the second book reviewed here is recommended.
Oliver's brief history is followed by descriptions of 24 of the most important map series published during the 200 - year history of the Survey. The descriptions are presented in diminishing order of scales starting with the 1:528 ("The Ten - Foot Map") and ending with the 1:633 600 ("The Ten - Mile Map"). Each entry mentions the important characteristics of the series and lists the editions that have been published.
Chapter 3 will probably hold the most interest for Canadians. Titled "Notes on the Depiction of Detail," it lists in alphabetical order (airfields to zincography) the Survey's decisions...