author
G. W. (George Washington) Bacon
1830–1921
An American-born mapmaker and publisher who built a successful London business around city maps, atlases, and travel guides. His work helped shape how Victorian and Edwardian readers pictured London and the wider world.
1 Audiobook
Abraham Lincoln geschetst in zijn leven en daden
by G. W. (George Washington) Bacon
About the author
Born in Lockport, New York, George Washington Bacon was a bookseller's son who moved to London in the 1860s and made his career there as a mapmaker, publisher, and bookseller. Reliable sources agree that he became especially known for publishing maps of London and a wide range of atlases and guidebooks.
His career was not a simple straight climb. Accounts note that he launched several ventures after arriving in Britain, ran into bankruptcy in the 1860s, and then rebuilt his business under G. W. Bacon & Co. in London. From there he developed a strong presence in commercial cartography, issuing practical, widely used maps and reworking existing map plates for new audiences.
Bacon is remembered less as an explorer than as a skilled publishing entrepreneur who brought geography to everyday readers. His name became closely linked with late-19th-century London mapping, and his publications remain of interest today to collectors, historians, and anyone curious about how cities and nations were presented in print.