1860 Blackie Map of the Cape of Good Hope

Blackie and Sons (1809 - 1991) was a Glasgow based publishing firm active from 1807 to 1991. The firm was established on November 20 1809 by John Blackie Sr. (1782 - 1874), Archibald Fullerton and William Sumerville as "Blackie, Fullerton and Company". Though trained as a weaver, Blackie envisioned a profitable business selling large books and novels by monthly subscription. Their first major publications appeared in 1811 and were subscription based religious and reference texts including several atlases. In 1931 Blackie bought out his partners and formally named the firm "Blackie and Son". While Blackie and Son had its main offices 7 Stanhope Street, Glasgow, it maintained subsidiary offices in London (6/18 William IV Street Charing Cross), Canada and India. In the next 100 years Blackie and Son grew into an enormous international publishing concern. Nonetheless, it remained a family business and was run by members of the Blackie family until it ceased publishing in 1991. More by this mapmaker...

Edward Weller (July 1, 1819 - 1884) was a cartographer and engraver based in London. Weller was a nephew of another well-known map publisher Sidney Hall (1788 - 1831), who gave him 50 Pounds to pay his apprenticeship fees. He engraved for many prominent mapmakers and was active enough in the community to be recommended for membership to the Royal Geographical Society in 1851 on the recommendation of John Arrowsmith, among others. He eventually inherited the Sidney Hall map business which led him to follow Arrowsmith as the unofficial geographer to the Royal Geographical Society. Weller was among the first map printers in London to embrace lithography. His best known work appears in Cassell's Weekly Dispatch Atlas, published in monthly segments for subscribers of the 'Weekly Dispatch' newspaper. This collection of maps eventually grew to include much of the known world. Published in various editions from 1855 through the early 1880s. Weller died in May of 1884, leaving behind a successful business and an unhappy widow. His son, Francis Sidney Weller (1849 - 1910), followed in his father's footsteps and continued the family map business. The atlas Mackenzie's Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales was published in 1894 and bore F. S. Weller's signature on the maps. Learn More...