jinnyto

Happy to share! Goodness now that you mention Michelin road maps I didn't realize how classy even just the covers all look. http://cartesmich.free.fr/chronologie_a.php

And those maps... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0308569100374714...

You're very welcome! So happy to discuss and share all this together, such an underrated topic in my opinion... Looking forward to your next update.

This whole thing has got me going down the rabbit hole of looking at different countries' archives, here are some from the United States (also in 1889 for the fun of comparison):

- Progress Map for 1889, Cape Fear River Below Wilmington, North Carolina: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/518257160?objectPage=2 - Statistics relating to the Canal around "The Cascades," Columbia River Falls https://catalog.archives.gov/id/501103295?objectPage=2

I tried looking at the British and Irish national archives but couldn't find online images/PDFs of maps and charts, seems like they're for in-person consultation only.

And one more French one from 1906 for kicks because it's so ambitious. Years + bars per year, mapped onto Paris, per company, then split into 2 views (total passengers vs. average passengers per kilometre). Wow. Mouvement de la circulation à l'intérieur de Paris、1860-1900 (map from 1906): https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5253796z/f81

Amazing process (such patience in this day and age!), and special thanks for sharing links to the data viz books! Tufte was my gateway too but I didn’t think to look into books on technical sketching, engineering drawing, and draftsmanship.

Love hand-drawn viz, recently I’ve been looking at the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) and they have a great collection of all their reports, from pre-1900s to now. I especially appreciate this beautiful one about people with mental illness in the Seine department… from 1889. The typography is chef’s kiss https://www.bnsp.insee.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52510983q/f49.item...

(After years of reading Hacker News this post motivated me to finally make an account and upvote. Data viz is so fun)