George Bartholomew (8 January 1784 – 23 October 1871, active from 1797) worked as an engraver for Daniel Lizars Sr. in Edinburgh.
His son, John Bartholomew Senior (1805–9 April 1861), began working independently in about 1826, founding the firm that bears his name.
John Christopher Bartholomew (1923–2008) shared his ancestors' fascination with the natural sciences, their meticulous standards and spirit of enterprise, and oversaw the publication of some of the most detailed maps of the last century, including The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World (1967).
The British Isles mapping arm (formerly Geographia Ltd.) was based in Cheltenham until that office was closed in 2009 and remaining staff made redundant in 2010.
The works behind the offices were demolished and replaced by new blocks of flats, which were named by the builder after prominent Scottish writers who had no connection with Bartholomews or cartography.
The departure of the company from Edinburgh after some 170 years was marked by an initiative of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and George Russell (not an employee) to arrange for the erection of a commemorative plaque with the cooperation of the last John Bartholomew.
The Maps Reading Room of the National Library of Scotland (which is located near the former Duncan Street offices) contains the extensive archives of the Bartholomew company, a product of a long and fruitful association between the two organisations.
A book, still available from the company at its post-1995 address in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow (Bartholomew - 150 Years), details the history and achievements of Bartholomews’ up to the time of its 150th anniversary in 1976, not very long after the last of the copperplate engravers retired and the company started to pioneer the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and computer-generated mapping for its cartographic publishing and for the selling of map data.