Buying From Us

Buying From Us

Personal Attention

We aim to offer customers a selection of genuine antique maps and topographical prints, in all price ranges, to meet their personal requirements whether for their own collection or for gifts. We hope you enjoy our catalogue and please do contact us if we can be of any assistance.

Approval Service

Customers are encouraged to make full use of our approval service to inspect items at leisure before deciding whether to keep them. We feel that no matter how good the description and illustration, there is no substitute for visual inspection.

All items are treated as 'on approval' for a period during which they may be returned if not entirely satisfactory. Please see below for information about Returns.

Catalogue

The catalogue offers a good selection from our stock. It does not, however, show everything we have so please let us know if you are looking for an item that is not listed. We may have one or be able to find one, although this can take some time.

A button on the Item Details page for each item allows you to add it to Your Enquiry List which can then be used as the basis of an enquiry or an order.

Availability

In most cases we have only one copy of the items in the catalogue so they are offered subject to being unsold. Whilst we attempt to update our catalogue regularly, there will always be items which have been sold or are on approval with another customer.

Enquiries and Orders

If you would like to enquire about or order one or more items from our catalogue please contact us by post, telephone or email.

We will need the reference number for each item, as shown in the catalogue, and your contact details. For an order, we will also need the name and address for posting and either a cheque or card details to cover the cost.

If you use the facility in the catalogue to select onto Your Enquiry List, this can then be used as the basis for our email Enquiry Form or our printable Order Form, and item descriptions, references and prices are filled in automatically.

If you prefer to print out a blank Order Form, you can find it here.

The Order Form is designed to be printed and sent by post. For reasons of security for card information, it is not to be saved on your computer or transmitted by email.

We can, of course, take orders by telephone.

If you order an item which is not available we will return the money or not take card payment for it.

Payment

Payment must be made in £ sterling either by personal cheque payable to 'Antique Maps and Prints' or by Visa, MasterCard or Maestro.

As explained above, to avoid security risks with card information, we are set up to take orders and payment by post or telephone but not email.

For customers based outside the UK, card payments may not clear our security procedures so please pay by sterling cheque drawn on a UK bank or contact us to make alternative payment arrangements.

Postage and Packaging

For UK orders under £75 there is a charge of £5 towards postage and packaging costs but no charge is made for orders of £75 or over.

All overseas orders are subject to a charge of £10 towards postage and packaging - please adjust the UK Packing Charge and the Total to Pay by hand on the Order Form.

Most items are presented in a display mount for protection and to give an impression of how they might look when mounted and framed. They are then packed against hardboard. Large items are packed in a cardboard tube.

Delivery is by insured post which is also recorded.

This combination of packaging and delivery works well and problems are rare.

If you decide to return any items to us we recommend you use the same protective packaging and insured post – that way it is very unlikely that there will be a problem with safe return.

Returns

All items are treated as on approval for a period. Any items you do not wish to keep should be returned well packed by insured post and on receipt of them in good condition we will refund the purchase price in full (but excluding any postage / packaging charge). They should be posted within 20 days of our despatch date to you (within 30 days for overseas customers). Our use of a P.O.Box ensures that safe return is not dependent on our availability to receive deliveries and in practice this works very well.

Your Details

We hold the name, address and contact details of customers and potential customers together with their interests in particular subjects or specific maps or prints.

We do not divulge this information to any other parties. We use it to respond to your queries and occasionally for instance, to inform you that our catalogue has been updated. We will not send you frequent emails or letters.

Where you provide credit or debit card details they are used for the transaction in question only and are not stored on our computer systems.

Catalogue Descriptions

Items are as described in our catalogue. We do not stock modern copies or modern retakes.

Errors do occur but they are rare. If ever you have any questions or doubts please ask and we will always do our best to provide answers.

Items were published or on about the date stated in the catalogue. Generally the dates are known fairly precisely but in some cases the dates are unknown and we provide an estimate.

The illustrations in the catalogue give an overall impression of the map or print but photographs presented on a screen do have their limitations. Colour reproduction is sometimes not true from the camera and additionally customers screen settings vary greatly. Two copies of the same map or print can also show colour variation. Probably the biggest limitation is the loss of any feel for the texture and age of an item. These are all good reasons why customers should see items physically before deciding whether to keep them.

The description page for an item shows its size. The sizes are to the nearest centimetre width first, to about where the item might be mounted. The screen images do not attempt to reproduce actual sizes; for instance, a small print will be shown taking up screen area similar to that of a large map.