PRATT'SPRATT'SWhen the Standard Oil Company started marketing its motor spirit in Northern Europe in 1896, it chose not to use the Standard name but instead to call itself Pratt's, after one Charles Pratt, a director of the company. It had already been selling lamp oils under the "Royal Daylight" brand for some years, and was later to introduce a number of other product specific names, including White Rose, Gladiator and Anglo's. Standard itself was reserved for use with bitumen, although it replaced Pratts after 1929 in Scandinavian markets.
When the Standard Oil Trust was broken up in the USA in 1911, most European subsidiaries went to Standard Oil Co of New Jersey. The Pratt's Perfection Motor Spirit name continued in use in England until 1935-6 when first Essolube (for oils) then Esso (for petrol) replaced the older brands.
Anglo-American was up against strong competition from Shell, Royal Dutch and the Nobels in many markets, so to attract the growing number of motorists it commissioned a number of small road atlases from George Philip & Son Ltd in 1904 & 1905. These variously had red or green covers and were of a small format, with titles in the style South-eastern England for Motorists, Cyclists and Pedestrians. One example is known where 3 of the red volumes were bound into a red folder, which also had space for the - newly introduced in 1904 - driving licence.
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In 1905 a more commonly found pair of road atlases were produced, again by George Philip and Son, Ltd. These were hardbound in green cloth, and each had over 100 pages of full colour maps, including plans of large cities and road profiles. Sectional maps were at 6 miles to the inch, with the profiles at 8 miles to the inch. These atlases have the unique distinction of being cited in the Oxford English Dictionary as being the first recorded instance of the phrase "Road Atlas". At the rear were 7 pages of monochrome adverts for Anglo-American's products. It is likely that these were reprinted with the same copyright date as the main advert appears to come in two versions: one on a "garage" (as shown below) and an earlier one at a "[c]ycle stores" (right). The earlier version also omits the "motor" before "spirit", and the cover states "POST FREE". |
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The 1905 edition had on its frontispiece "Purveyors of Motor Spirit to H.M. The King By Royal Warrant". At the start of the maps section (twice in the Scotland & Ireland version) was a reminder to Look Out for these signs Everywhere. Only the cover was sadly dull, with black text on dark green cloth. |
Two further editions followed in 1914 and 1915, with the brighter cover featuring two gold Royal Warrants shown below and the name on the volume's spine for the first time. The first post war set does not appear to have been published until 1920:
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The maps and road profiles (left) were essentially the same as in the 1905 edition. The colour rendering of the Pratt's sign shown above was still used, but the adverts at the rear had changed, to include this unusual one for Nujol anti-constipation pills, also made by Anglo-American! |
Later in the 1920s, the apostrophe was dropped from to make the brand Pratts, and new editions of the atlases were created (although the frontispiece still said Copyright 1905, Revised 1929).
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The 1929 cover now had gold and red lettering. The maps were again similar, but road profiles were omitted, presumably as cars had gained enough power to climb most British hills. The front advert now showed a service station that was more typical of California than England, and the rear adverts were in two colours, including this example for Pratts new Ethyl grade. |
No sheet maps are known from Pratt's or Pratts. Pratt's advertised on several other maps including the inside rear cover of Michelin maps from 1914 to 1920 (and was the only third party ever to do so on UK Michelin maps), and also advertised on a Tit-Bits map from 1930, given away with the popular magazine. A selection of these are shown on the adverts page. No Pratt's maps or atlases are known from the Scandinavian subsidiaries.
Thanks to Tim Nicholson for his research into the earliest Pratt's atlases in the Bartholomew archives.
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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2000-2 |
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