R.V. Tooley map collection

Ronald Vere Tooley (1898–1986) was born and educated in London. He served in the Queen’s Westminster Rifles in World War I and was one of a minority in his regiment to survive the Battle of Cambrai. In 1919 he joined the London booksellers Francis Edwards Ltd and throughout the 1920s he produced catalogues of rare books and old maps. He eventually established his own business—the Atlas Bookshop—but it closed in 1936. After World War II he rejoined Francis Edwards and in time became one of its directors, retiring in 1976. Tooley devoted a great deal of his time to the history of mapping, carrying out research in the Map Room of the British Museum. His germinal work Maps and Map-makers was published by Batsford in 1949; five further editions appeared in his lifetime. In 1963 Tooley and Robert Stockwell founded the Map Collectors’ Circle and began the Map Collectors’ Series. Tooley was the author of over 30 works in this series, covering maps in Europe, Africa, North America and Australasia. They included Printed Maps of Australia, which appeared in seven parts in 1970–73. Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers and The Mapping of Australia were both published in 1979.