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Senate House Library

E.G.R. Taylor Collection of historic printed maps

A collection of over 900 map sheets, representing 96 individual and series titles, and dating between 1700 and 1900.

The collection was presented to Senate House Library by Birkbeck College, where E.G.R.Taylor was chair of the department of geography from 1930 until 1944.

The collection comprises an interesting mixture of fine maps as well as the work of important mapmakers worthy of Professor Taylor’s interest in the art and science of cartography. History comes alive as its stage is revealed in maps, and family historians in particular will find the detail of these maps of great use. Those interested in cartography and its history will discover some very interesting and unusual examples of the work of important 18th and 19th century European practitioners.

1840 French map of the word by Kaeppelin
Also included in the collection is the work of such cartographers as Ivan Islen’ev, Alexi Hubert Jaillot, Pierre Lapie, Georges-Louis Le Rouge, Guillaume de L’Isle, Filippo Morghen, and Gilles Robert de Vaugondy.

Gems of the collection

Thanks to a generous grant from SHeLF, the Friends of Senate House Library, the E.G.R.Taylor Collection of Historic Printed Maps was catalogued in 2008, and records are now available on the main Library Catalogue and Jisc Library Hub Discover (formerly COPAC). To gain an overview of the collection do an author search on “Taylor, E G R” as associated name. The maps are available for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Room in Senate House Library.