Customer Query of the Year, 2009

We get many requests for further information about our maps and atlases here at Collins Geo. The three most common questions are:

How much is my old Times Atlas worth? Usually when an atlas such as an early edition of the famous Times Atlas of the World is discovered in the loft or handed down from an elderly relative. See our What are they worth post.

When was my Bartholomew Half-Inch series map produced? Which can be problematic as there is no actual date printed on the sheet or only an abbreviated code is used. See our Dating the Bartholomew Half-Inch to One Mile Maps post.

Where can I order one of the latest maps/atlases? Look at the Times Atlases website, find them in good bookshops and online at Waterstone’s or Amazon

Last week we received an intriguing request from Tue, regarding an old Collins Concise Atlas of the World. His question was:
‘What's the system behind the colouring of countries on the cover?'
This question had been troubling him and the readers of his blog En Amagerkaner i New York (in Danish) for weeks, without anyone having an even remotely plausible answer.



After looking through a copy of the atlas and discussing this conundrum we came up with a probable explanation. We think the cover map is based on the Population Growth map on page XXIV which had been modified by the designer who had combined two categories and changed the colours to make a ‘striking’ atlas cover. What do you think?



A recent post on a key-less maps quiz tests the same problem of identifying the subject matter of a map with no key.