Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Map Maker, Map Maker, Make me a Map

I was searching on Ancestry.com for some information on next month's block maker, Mary Trayner.  As I was following the family tree trail I came across a set of maps drawn in 1883 of Chester County land owners. 

Detail of Oxford Borough, 1883

 I was charmed by the tiny sketches of the prominent buildings in the town centre.  The offical map maker that year must have been very talented, or artistic, or bored, because each map has its own style.  I went through each of the 150 pages and saved my favourite fonts.  Which one do you like the best?








6 comments:

  1. My favourite is London Grove...I like the extra embellishment in the word Grove. Thanks for sharing, as they are all interesting.

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  2. Those really are something special! Maybe the drafter was being paid by the hour.

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  3. I love Downingtown. But all of them are great. Wish we had access to a complete alphabet for all.

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  4. They are fantastic! I love old maps and these are wonderful examples.

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  5. Love them all but I think my favourite is the Chester County label. Great post, reminds me of a lettering book I had in primary school that I would painstakingly try and copy for school project headings.

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  6. So here I sit with my friend Holly in a hotel in Bedford Pennsylvania and she is from Phoenixville PA and are interested in opening the West Vincent Map. We will let you know what we discover. Stay tuned. By the way I was stitching on my CCCQ block tonight while chatting with Holly whose family goes back 1750s.

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