Esso Road Map - Section 5, Northern England, c1959 : cover art by Chris D Watkiss
For many years the majority of petrol (gas or gasoline) and oil companies produced road maps and guides to help the happy motorist navigate their way around. Such publications also helped promote and market the various companies in the days when many motorists 'stuck' to one brand of petrol or oil. This was heavily promoted in post-WW2 years in the UK when 'pool petrol' and fuel rationing was abolished in the early 1950s.
The companies usually used existing cartographers to produce their maps and here Stanford's of London have provided the base mapping for the Esso Road Maps. This series appears to be dated to the late 1950s (one has a revision date of 1958) and the covers are, I'm sure, by Chris D Watkiss an established artist and illustrator who also produced advertising materials for car manufacturers at the time. The majority of this set was handed out at the Lea Hall Garage Ltd, of Armitage Road, Rugeley in Staffordshire.
Section 5 for Northern England has a cover showing the Lake District and Westmorland by artist C D Watkiss.
Esso Road Map - Section 5, Northern England, c1959 : cover art by Chris D Watkiss
For many years the majority of petrol (gas or gasoline) and oil companies produced road maps and guides to help the happy motorist navigate their way around. Such publications also helped promote and market the various companies in the days when many motorists 'stuck' to one brand of petrol or oil. This was heavily promoted in post-WW2 years in the UK when 'pool petrol' and fuel rationing was abolished in the early 1950s.
The companies usually used existing cartographers to produce their maps and here Stanford's of London have provided the base mapping for the Esso Road Maps. This series appears to be dated to the late 1950s (one has a revision date of 1958) and the covers are, I'm sure, by Chris D Watkiss an established artist and illustrator who also produced advertising materials for car manufacturers at the time. The majority of this set was handed out at the Lea Hall Garage Ltd, of Armitage Road, Rugeley in Staffordshire.
Section 5 for Northern England has a cover showing the Lake District and Westmorland by artist C D Watkiss.