The Great Circle Map – Premium Print

£40.00

A premium quality print of The Great Circle Map by MacDonald Gill.

Description

Own the iconic Great Circle Map!

Created by famed graphic artist Macdonald Gill, the Great Circle Map was to be Gill’s final poster map before his death in 1947.

Printed on luxurious 300gsm Monte Carlo paper, including a Certificate of Authenticity and and A6 reproduction of the original Cable & Wireless Company press release, this is a must for anyone with an interest in communications history.

Below is a transcription of the Cable & Wireless Company press release included with the print:

This map is a decorated version of the map which is used daily by Cable and Wireless engineers and operators who maintain the Empire’s oversea wireless telegraph circuits from London. By its means the Company’s engineers can plot the direction of wireless beams on distant stations, and the traffic control officers can determine which wireless circuits can most readily be used to meet rapidly changing traffic requirements.

The map represents an azimuthal projection of the globe which gives correct bearings from the centre of the map. Since the circuits radiate from London, the map has been centred on London. All straight lines passing through London represent great circles. Directed wireless beams travel round the earth’s surface along great circle courses, which are the shortest distances between any two points on the globe.

To find the great circle bearing from London to any point, lay a rule along the line from London passing through that point to the edge of the map. The bearing can then be read in degrees measured clockwise from the north. Distances can be measured along this line on the graphical side. Distances and bearings are correct only for measurements made along a radius from London.

The Company operates nearly 150 wireless circuits: the principal circuits are shown by dotted lines on the map. The principal cable routes are also shown, in solid lines; the Company operates a total of 155,000 nautical miles of cable routes.

The map was drawn and illuminated for Cable and Wireless by MacDonald Gill (Mapmaker, Graphic Designer, Letterer & Architect), F.R.I.B.A., F.R.G.S. The decorative pictures show (left to right): upper corners, a wireless transmitter, and a mobile wireless telegraph station; centre sides, loading cable into a boat, and cable transfer gear; lower corners, S.S. Great Eastern (which laid the first transatlantic cable in 1866) and a modern cable ship.

Note that the print comes unframed.

Size: 40 x 50cm

The Great Circle Map – Premium Print
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