John Bartholomew Jr (25 December 1831 – 30 March 1893) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

Life

Bartholomew was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. His father,

John Bartholomew Sr John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

, started the cartographical establishment in Edinburgh, and he was trained in the firm. He was subsequently assistant to the German geographer

August Petermann Augustus Heinrich Petermann (18 April 182225 September 1878) was a German cartographer. Early years Petermann was born in Bleicherode, Germany. When he was 14 years old, he started grammar school in the nearby town of Nordhausen. Despite famil ...

, until 1856 when he took up the management of his father's company. For this establishment, Bartholomew built up a reputation unsurpassed in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

for the production of the finest cartographical work. He is best known for the commercial development of colour contouring (or

hypsometric tints Hypsometric tints (also called layer tinting, elevation tinting, elevation coloring, or hysometric coloring) are colors placed between contour lines to indicate elevation. These tints are shown as bands of color in a graduated scheme or as a col ...

), the system of representing altitudes on a graduated colour scale, with areas of high altitude in shades of brown and areas of low altitude in shades of green. He first showcased his colour contouring system at the

Paris Exhibition of 1878 The 1878 Universal Exposition (, ), also known as the 1878 Paris Exposition, 1878 World Fair, or 1878 World Expo, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 1 May to 10 November 1878, to celebrate the recovery of France after the 1870–71 F ...

; although it was initially met with skepticism, it went on to become a standard cartographical practice. Among his numerous publications, particularly worthy of note is the series of maps of Great Britain reduced from the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

to scales of half-inch and quarter-inch to 1 mile, with relief shown by

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, isoquant or isarithm) of a Function of several real variables, function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a ...

s and hypsometric tints. The half-inch series is among the finest of its kind ever produced. Upon his retirement in 1888, John Bartholomew was succeeded in the firm by his son John George, who extended the half-inch series, and applied its principles to many other works. For the last six years of his life Bartholomew was living at 32 Royal Terrace in Edinburgh.Mitchell , Anne (1993), "The People of Calton Hill", p. 83, Mercat Press, James Thin, Edinburgh, Bartholomew died in London on 30 March 1893. He is buried with his parents in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hi ...

in Edinburgh, in the northwest section. His wife Annie McGregor (1836–1872), whom he greatly outlived, is also buried there.

References

Attribution: *

External links

Bartholomew: A Scottish Family Heritage
- site maintained by the family.
Times World Atlases official website
including
History and Heritage section
detailing landmark Times atlases *See an 1856 map by John Bartholome
''Texas, part of New Mexico &c. / drawn & engraved by J. Bartholomew.''
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History
1831 births 1893 deaths Scientists from Edinburgh Scottish cartographers Burials at the Grange Cemetery 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society {{Scotland-business-bio-stub

Life

See also

References

External links