Did Antique Maps Come Coloured?

A short article regarding the common question about how antique maps were originally published.

Generally speaking it was not until the late 18^th Century that British Atlases were sold ready coloured in any quantity. Before that time it was usual for a purchaser to take it to a specialist map colourist and have the work done to his individual order.

The quality of colouring varies greatly and it is also clear that many people would have coloured their own maps - see instructions for colouring maps

Some maps were published already hand coloured, these are often very fine as they will have been looked over by the publisher who had already taken great care and expense to engrave the maps! The finest examples are those maps published by Bleau, at Amsterdam, in the mid 17^th century - although it should be noted that these maps were also issued in the plain black and white state. Having examined various maps over the years with original colouring it is a reasonale assumtion to say that there were degrees of quality/luxuary with regards the colouring and this would certainly hae been reflected in the original price.

For the modern day collector we find that most maps published after around 1860 were actually printed in colour, this being enabled by the advances in printing techniques. Before that the map would have been published in black and white, just as a line engraving, colour may have been added at the time - either by the publisher, by a professional colourist or by the new owner himself. However a great many maps on the market today have only been coloured very recently, it is usually quite easy to tell and in any case any reputable dealer will know and be able to date the colouring to a reasonable degree.

Mostly you would want to know if the colouring is 'modern' or old, as far as value goes a well coloured map is more decorative than b/w and would be worth more, I think good colouring outweighs age of colouring - as clearly bad colour ruins a map whenever it was done!

More Antique Maps Articles

• List of all our articles about Antique Maps
• Short Biographies of Some Famous MapMakers