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Covers Online

The definitive work on OS covers is Map Cover Art by John Paddy Browne, published by Ordnance Survey in 1991 and long out of print.

The Charles Close Society is now creating a comprehensive collection of OS map covers, based (by kind permission) on the indexing system devised by Roger Hellyer for the book.

This is a long-term ongoing project which will be developed and enhanced as more examples become available.
The collection is organised by section, arranged roughly chronologically, as listed below. Each section has a page with the information described below and links to images.

Reference numbers in square brackets and artists' initials are explained here


The sections are:

GENERAL PURPOSE MAP COVERS Includes index numbers 1 to 8
The first Ordnance Survey covers were cloth-coated, and were intended almost entirely for general purposes. The remnant of this tradition survived until 1959 on Isles of Scilly, 1933. Such covers were issued on maps at scales from 25 inches to the mile to 25 miles to the inch. Many of these would have been issued in thin paper envelopes, some with Fisher Unwin's imprint.

THE INTER-WAR YEARS, 1919-1939
Relatively few maps remained in Ordnance Survey general purpose covers. For most, new pictorial designs, individually styled to establish a separate identity for each map series, were created. Adhesive cards were generally used, and on extant maps these were often glued onto ex-military stock, and a few were even glued to pre-war hinged covers. Paper book-fold covers were briefly revived on some cloth Half-inch and One-inch Third and Popular Edition maps, and were in standard use on paper maps. Hinged covers regained their popularity in 1930, to be superseded by the current “Bender” fold (named after its inventor, not its method of folding) for non-dissected maps from 1938, though they did not finally disappear until 1962. N.B. The term “District Map” is conventional, and before the 1930’s was only used as part of the map or cover title. Phraseology such as “Parts of Sheets...” or “Special Sheet” was preferred for sheet designation.

Covers designed for national map series Includes index numbers 9 to 27
General purpose One-inch Tourist and District Map designs Includes index numbers 28 to 31
One-inch England & Wales/Scotland Tourist Maps+ Includes index numbers 32 to 61
One-inch England & Wales Popular Edition District Maps+ Includes index numbers 62 to 66
Half-inch England & Wales Special District Maps Includes index numbers 67 to 70
Miscellaneous maps published before the Second World War Includes index numbers 71 to 82
Period Maps Includes index numbers 83 to 95

THE POST-WAR YEARS 1945

Post-war Ordnance Survey of Great Britain standard designs Includes index numbers 96 to 107
Ordnance Survey House Style, 1963 Includes index numbers 108 to 126
Ordnance Survey House Style, 1968 Includes index numbers 127 to 166
Official Leisure Maps / 1:10,000 District and Neighbourhood Maps Includes index numbers 167 to 174
Post-war Period Maps Includes index numbers 175 to 187
Other map covers Includes index numbers 188 to 199

EXTENSION LIST of additonal covers published with Sheetlines 31 in September 1991

Unused designs Includes index numbers 201 to 209
Discoveries and covers not previously recorded Includes index numbers 210 to 239
Atlases Includes index numbers 240 to 249
Repayment covers (including Footpath, BA and Geological) Includes index numbers 250 to 259
Foreign including DOS Includes index numbers 260 to 269
Non-OS covers on OS maps 270 Map Agents
Other Non-OS covers on OS maps index numbers 271 to 279
Library covers Includes index numbers 280 to 289
Boxes and miscellanea Includes index numbers 290 to 299
Non-photographic covers since 1978 - part 1 OS in black or white. Includes numbers 300 to 309.
OS in frame. Includes numbers 310 to 319.
OS with Blue/Red background. Includes numbers 320 to 329
Non-photographic covers since 1978 - part 2 With some photographic elements. Includes numbers 330 to 359
No OS symbols. Includes numbers 360 to 399
Photographic covers:- OS in black or white. Includes numbers 400 to 419.
OS in frame. Includes numbers 420 to 439.
OS with Blue/Red background. Includes numbers 440 to 479.
No OS symbols. Includes numbers 480 to 499.
New Symbol 2015. Includes numbers 500 +

APPENDIX 1 Ireland Ordnance Survey of Ireland
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland
APPENDIX 2 Books & Booklets APPENDIX 3 Manoeuvres and Training maps APPENDIX 4 Leaflets
Leaflets are listed in chronological order by printcode where present. Click any image to show date and month, or assumed date -circa- in the browser box above, followed by the print run, and dimensions of the folded leaflet in millimetres. 1919 to 1967
1968 to 1991
1992 to 1996
1997 to 2015

The section summary pages show the following information:1: Sequential number for easy reference
2: Description of cover design. Most variations in lettering, or changes in the Royal Arms (usually at the death of a monarch), have been ignored. This list also disregards cover back panels and inside surfaces
3: Initials of artist, if applicable. See the list here
4: Map issues which use the design. The dates given are those of the first publication of an edition, and the appearance of a cover design is usually coincident, or soon after. Dates annotated with code [17] are those for which there is supporting evidence for the independent introduction of a cover design. The titles given are usually the sheet rather than the cover title, except on Ansell-fold maps. Cover titles altered by means of adhesive labels have been disregarded. Matter in square brackets gives additional or editorial information.

Reference numbers in square brackets and artists' initials are explained here

This list is not definitive, and the absence here of a particular type of map inside a particular cover design merely means that it has not been recorded, not that it does not exist. However some whose existence is suspected are included, guarded by question marks. Many designs were used also on publicity leaflets and posters etc., but these are only noted here if they assist in dating the design. Words such as 'long', 'wide' are comparative and imply no fixed measurement. Kew Gardens, 1935 is the only known map advertised in covers not so far recorded.