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David Forrest is right about there being no HLS/RGB standard. Not only
is there no standard for topographic maps across the board, but if you
start looking over time within map series, you'll see a wide variance.
 
Even within a standard series there can be changes as big as USGS's
going from 7 to 5 colors of ink for the 7.5' series (with a sixth for
supplementary edition information), eliminating separate inks for light
blue and pink, which have since been tints of blue and red. About the
same time as this shift was made (sometime in the 1950s), a similar
shift was made in the 1:250K series. Even wwithin a given year's
production, there is between sheets a considerable variation in ink
color.
 
For the Ordnance Survey map series, I highly recommend Ordnance Survey
Maps: A Descriptive Guide, by JB Harley. It includes an exhaustive index
of all OS map series up to the time of printing (1975). I have found
this very useful in looking at color in OS maps.
 
I also recommend Ulla Ehresvard's essay on color in Art and Cartography,
ed. David Woodward, 1987.
 
But to return to you original question, I think the best way to get a
sense of actual map ink colors is get a Pantone swatch book and just try
and match them up with sample maps. Especially with older maps, you'll
find the paper coloration a major factor, but you should be able to get
close...
--
Nat Case
Hedberg Maps, Inc.
 
Publisher of PROFESSOR PATHFINDER Maps
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