British Army Boer War map of 'Melmonth [ i.e. Melmoth ]': 'Sheet No. 37' in 'Transvaal (Major Jackson's Series)'.

Photolithographically printed in black on one side of a 51 x 63 cm. piece of cloth, folding into a 16.5 x 11 cm. packet, in green printed cloth covers backed with card. In good condition, lightly-aged, with minor signs of age and wear. Cover reads: 'Transvaal. | (Major Jackson's Series). | Sheet No. 37. | Melmonth. | Field Intelligence Department. | Pretoria, 1901.' Signed in pencil on front cover 'G S Scovell | Cam Hrs.' In top left-hand corner of map: 'No. 37'. In bottom left-hand corner: 'Compiled in Surveyor General's Office - Pretoria underdirection [sic] of MAJOR H. M. JACKSON R.E. Mch. 1901 | From Transvaal Farm Surveys - Zululand portion from Map supplied by Surveyor General Natal'. In bottom right-hand corner: 'Photo-Lithographed - Pretoria - June 1901. | Mapping Section - Field Intelligence Dept - Army Head Qrs.' E. Liebenberg, in a paper titled 'The Cartographic Legacy of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902', describes the 'valuable work' done by Jackson until the cessation of hostilities when he became Surveyor-General of the Transvaal Colony. As he explains, 'Major Jackson's Transvaal and Natal Series', of which the present item is a part, was the second of three series (the first being the 'Imperial Map of South Africa', and the third the 'Transvaal and Orange River Colony Degree Sheet Series), its deficiencies the result of the hurry with which it was compiled: 'Major Jackson's Transvaal and Natal Series was initiated by Major H M Jackson, head of the Topographical Section of the FID soon after Pretoria was occupied in June 1900. Also known as the First Transvaal Series, this series consisted of 74 sheets of irregular size covering the whole of the Transvaal (except the extreme north-eastern portion), Naral, Zululand and Swaziland, and part of the former Bechuanaland. The maps were printed in monochrome on linen-backed paper and were, like the Imperial Maps, folded to pocket size for easy usage on horseback. Compiled in a hurry for urgent military use, the maps are of a poor standard and it is uncertain whether they were of much use for military purposes. Although farm names and farm boundaries are shown, the physical topography is merely sketched in and no altitudes are given. According to Jackson himself, these maps were based on a mere 'patch-work' of farm diagrams and as such included much information that was of dubious value - if not positively misleading'. From the papers of Lieutenant-Colonel George Julian Selwyn Scovell of the 1st Cameron Highlanders, for more information regarding whom see his obituary in The Times, 29 April 1948, and his entry in Who Was Who. Scovell's diaries covering his period of service in the Boer War are offered separately.