OMAN's ATLAS OF THE PENINSULAR WAR: A Complete Colour Assembly of all Maps & Plans from Sir Charles Oman's History of the Peninsular War

It's very nice to have while reading the series of books. Saved a lot of time not having to go back and forth to the maps in the book. Just have it next to you while reading and everything becomes clear.

Very good atlas and excellent to accompany Oman's Peninsular War

Obviously for the money you are not going to get Wyld's Atlas but there again this didn't cost £7,000.What you do get is all the maps from the seven volumes of Oman's work in one place, with the hashed contour lines over coloured in a light brown and the Allied unit blocks filled in with either red or green, the French being rendered in black.Of itself that may not sound like much but coupled with the fact that maps themselves are mostly reproduced at twice the size of those in the Greenhill/Stackpole Books paperback editions of Oman, from 2004/5 and unlike in those, none of them is printed across two pages, the resulting increase in clarity can't be over stated.There are 91 maps in this publication and in only one (Vimiero) where the colour register of the British units is off slightly from the outline of the original unit blocks, are there any noticeable issues in the reproduction.Of course you have to like the style of the original work and that's just a comment, not a criticism but it is fair to point out illustration has changed from the early years of the 20th Century. Also, to my mind, some of the dozen or so smaller maps that have remained at original size could have really been enlarged as well, although they may be of some lesser importance to the average reader.However, overall a good buy for the money and very handy to have purely for viewing while reading Oman's, text with out having to flick backwards and forwards while following the description of events as well as a useful quick reference source.

These maps are a very useful accompaniment to Oman's masterpiece, his seven volume History of the Peninsular War. Some of the maps in the most recent publication have the maps smaller and printed across two pages, so these are much more handy for following the campaigns and battles. The reproductions of the maps are good but some of the maps were not brilliant in the first place - the map of Sorauren is pretty basic, for example - although the majority are very good, with the colouring of the troops making them stand out nicely on the three coloured backgrounds. That said, considered just as an Atlas, Lipscombe's Peninsular War atlas is much better - the maps are much brighter and clearer, so this is a niche product: perfect if you want the maps to accompany Oman's text, otherwise it is difficult to see why you would want this over other offerings.