Welland Antique Maps & Prints: A passion that became a business.
It was back in early 1993 whilst a Humanities student in Nottingham that I came across something that would change my life forever: I was browsing idly in an old book shop when I picked up from the floor an original John Speed map of Lincolnshire. I was immediately transfixed. Here was a beautiful and detailed 17th century map of the county I called home with a bird’s-eye plan of Lincoln, heraldic shields, fine calligraphy and ornamentation. I just had to have it so in the subsequent weeks I whipped together the funds and made the purchase, but my interest in maps didn’t end there. I was amazed that such exquisite items were not the reserve of museums and libraries but could be acquired by someone like myself. In the months following my interest became an obsession to the point that by February 1994 I decided to become a dealer and ‘Welland Antique Maps & Prints’ was born.
Over the years I traded in a number antique centres and exhibited at many local and regional fairs. It was at such a fair in 1997 that I met my future wife, Amber. We were married in 1999 and set up our own antique centre together. With the rise of the internet and the credit crunch in 2008, however, we decided to close the centre and go online, and since then, Welland Antique Maps & Prints has flourished. Having once specialised mainly in the local, we now offer a wide selection of regional, national and international maps and topographical prints. We have also become specialists in the flower fairy prints by Cicely Mary Barker.
Please feel free to browse through our web site and be assured that everything we sell is not only original but is always in good condition — as if we were collecting it for ourselves — and comes with a ‘Certificate of Guarantee’.
Richard & Amber