Pratts High Test Map of the Bath Road
- Title:
- Pratts High Test Map of the Bath Road
- Alternate Title:
- Pratts High Test Map of the Bath Road
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Taylor, Alfred Edward
- Date:
- 1930
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2331.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2331_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Pictorial
Advertising & Promotion - Measurement:
- 38 x 66 on sheet 50 x 74 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This early “Plan of the Bath Road” was distributed as a promotional piece for “Pratts High Test” gasoline. It was made by A.E. Taylor, a well-regarded British illustrator and mapmaker. Taylor’s work honors a long and proud tradition of the English road map dating to John Ogilby.
Ogilby’s Britannia, published in 1675, was “a landmark in the mapping of England and Wales. . . . the first national road-atlas of any country in western Europe.” Barber 2005, 174. He was the first to illustrate a continuous road as a strip of adjoining maps on a single page, and his work reflected meticulous accuracy as well as artistic flair. His maps showed walls, hedges, bridges, fords, topography and significant local landmarks - in short, “a wealth of detail in . . . an immediate and compressible form.” Ibid.
Taylor’s map shows the 1930s version of the old coach road to Bath, following the best of the earlier tradition. Routes and intersections are clearly marked, and an inset map shows alternative “Ways out of London.” The map is covered with illustrations of town arms and significant sights, from Hyde Park Corner in London and The White Hart in Dorchester to the Abbey Ruins in Malmesbury and Stonehenge. The remaining empty space is filled with quotations from Shakespeare, Bryron, Dickens and Milton. A poem under the title praises “The accelerating quality of Pratts.”
Pratts was a 19th century distributor of lubricating oil and “motor spirits” (gasoline). It was a subsidiary of Anglo-American Oil Company, the U.K. distributor for Standard Oil in the U.S. It produced a series of these road maps in a smaller format, 24 x 39 cm, folded in three (perhaps to fit in early glove boxes). The verso of each smaller map contained detailed text about “Places of Interest in the area covered by this Plan” and “Places of Interest on Detours.” The verso also advertised “Fine art copies of this Plan enlarged to 29-1/4 in. by 20 in., beautifully reproduced on heavy toned paper in eight colors, suitable for framing, price 1s. post free.” See Rumsey #8756.001. This is one of those copies.
For another map by Alfred Taylor, see ID #2405, "The World-Wide Distribution of Eno's Fruit Salt" (1926).
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.