The Times Atlas of the World: Mid-Century Edition

Edward B. Espenshade, Jr. reviews Northern Europe (1955), Volume 3 of The Times Atlas of the World: Mid-Century Edition, edited by John Bartholomew and the first installment of a five-volume set planned for completion by 1959. The revised atlas primarily offers relatively large-scale general-reference maps, with limited thematic coverage. The reviewer praises its overall cartographic design, improved name legibility, local-name policy, and printing quality; spot checks revealed no errors he could recognize. Criticisms concern weakened relief representation through lighter layer tints, difficult river lettering, ineffective forest symbols on the Netherlands and Belgium maps, and reduced reference value where place names have been omitted. He also finds the division of Europe between two volumes and the five-volume format inconvenient, recommends glossaries of generic geographical terms, and identifies a need for a large world atlas of thematic maps.