Stanfords

Last updated

Stanfords
Company type Private
Industry Retail
Bookshop
Founded1853
Founder Edward Stanford
Headquarters
London   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website www.stanfords.co.uk

Stanfords is a specialist bookshop of maps and travel books in London, established in 1853 by Edward Stanford. [1] Its collection of maps, globes, and maritime charts [2] is considered the world's largest. [3] It has also supplied cartography for the British Army and for James Bond films.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History

The Floral Street entrance to Stanfords Stanfords & Rose Street, London.JPG
The Floral Street entrance to Stanfords

At the time of the shop's opening, it was the only mapmaker in London, with John Bolton as an in-house cartographer. [4] Stanfords opened at the height of global exploration and colonialism, hence, cartographic works were in great demand. The shop quickly expanded to 7 and 8 Charing Cross whilst acquiring premises on Trinity Place for printing works. [5] The store on Long Acre in Covent Garden, central London, was the location of the company's printing business [4] before the entire operation moved there in January 1901. [5]

Stanfords was hit by an incendiary bomb on the night of 15 April 1941 and it only survived due to the thousands of Ordnance Survey maps tightly stacked on the shop's upper floors, which kept the fire from spreading. [6] In 1997 a second store opened in Bristol. [7] The company also operates a division based in Manchester, providing mapping for business purposes such as large scale maps for planning applications.

For the shop's 150th anniversary in 2003 a National Geographic world map in vinyl, costing £40,000, was laid onto the ground floor, with maps of the Himalaya and London on the other floors. [5] [8] In 2015 the company took over sponsorship of the annual Dolman Travel Book Award, renaming it the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. [9] In 2018 Stanfords opened a new location at 7 Mercer Walk in Covent Garden; the Long Acre site closed in January 2019. [10] [11]

The shop closed in March 2020 because of loss of business from restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but funds received from a crowdfunding appeal enabled it to reopen in 2021. [12] On 31 January 2022 the company acquired the Bookharbour business from OneOcean, to expand its range of charts and navigation products. [5]

Notable clients

Customers past and present include David Livingstone, Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Florence Nightingale, Ranulph Fiennes, Bill Bryson and Michael Palin. [5] Stanfords also provided the charts for Amy Johnson's solo flight to Australia. [6]

In fiction

In Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles , Sherlock Holmes orders from Stanfords (named Stamfords in the story) a large-scale Ordnance Survey map of a suspected crime-scene on Dartmoor. [13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Garcia, Francisco (13 October 2018). "Stanfords travel bookshop is set to move after 117 years in Covent Garden". Metro. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  2. ↑ Maritime Charts, Books & Official Publications
  3. ↑ Dickinson, Greg (11 October 2018). "Stanfords to close Long Acre store, launchpad for explorers young and old, after 117 years". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 Lugris, Mark (15 October 2018). "World's Largest Map Shop Will Be Relocated From Its Iconic Location After 117 Years". TheTravel. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Stanfords – A Brief History". Stanfords. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  6. 1 2 Robbins, Tom (19 October 2018). "Short cuts: venerable travel bookshop Stanfords on the move". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "Bristol Store". Stanfords. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Mason, Mark (2011). Walk the lines: the London underground, overground. London: Arrow Books. p. 148. ISBN   978-0-099-55793-7.
  9. ↑ Kerr, Michael (28 September 2015). "Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year award 2015 winner announced". Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  10. ↑ Turner, Sarah. "Stanfords, The World's Most Famous Map And Travel Bookshop, Is On The Move". Forbes. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  11. ↑ Smale, Will (21 October 2019). "The map store boss who took the long route". BBC News.
  12. ↑ Pryce, Lois (2 November 2020). "Stanfords travel bookshop launches crowdfunding project as it fights for survival". The Guardian . Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  13. ↑ Doyle, Arthur Conan (2021). "Chapter 3: The Problem". The hound of the Baskervilles. Newbury: Baker Street Press. ISBN   978-1-912464-51-7. OCLC   1263808407. After you left I sent down to Stamford's for the Ordnance map of this portion of the moor, and my spirit has hovered over it all day. I flatter myself that I could find my way about.

51°30′44″N0°07′34″W / 51.5122°N 0.1260°W / 51.5122; -0.1260

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