Custom Cartography

While still a teenager, Rick Britton got hooked on antique cartography—how the various types of lettering and terrain symbols call to mind a far distant past. This hobby evolved into a sideline and eventually a business.

Rick Britton believes that computer-generated cartography is acceptable for some purposes, but if the topic is history the accompanying maps should be illustrated as they were in the past—by hand. He employs the same techniques and symbols used by map illustrators in the 18th and 19th centuries. The result is cartography with the “feel” of history, cartography that is more relevant—and valuable—to the book in which it appears.

Over the years, Rick Britton has illustrated maps for many of the world’s largest publishing companies, including Random House, Simon & Schuster, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and University Press of Virginia. He’s also frequently hired by authors who want great maps for their book (and have been advised by their publisher that they need to purchase them themselves).

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