Identify the catalogue’s version

The British Library’s IOR/X/12084 describes four sheets, arranged as two pairs. One pair carries the India–Pakistan boundary and a proposed Sikh line along the Chenab; the other is the base map alone. The base is O.R. 6409, produced in 1947 by the Geographical Section, General Staff. The catalogue gives a scale of 1:2,000,000 and describes red overprinting, with manuscript additions on the reverse of one sheet. These details identify different states of a map rather than four different awards. When requesting material, retain the full subreference and specify whether the question concerns the base, the overprint or the reverse. This catalogue description was inspected; the four physical sheets were not.[1]

Trace the reproduction trail

Shaheer Tarar’s 2020 thesis describes a different evidentiary route: a reproduction in Mian Muhammad Sadullah’s 1993 documentary collection, credited to a map preserved in the Punjab Archives and annexed to Radcliffe’s award. Tarar reports two black-and-white pull-outs and an inscription certifying Annexure B to the report dated 12 August 1947. His discussion makes the reproduction’s limits visible: its quality, selected coverage and joins affect what can be read. The thesis is the inspected source here; the documentary volume and original archival map were not independently examined. A citation should preserve that chain rather than silently changing a reproduction into a claim of direct archival access.[2]

Tarar also identifies the Lahore quarter-inch sheet, number 44I, in its 1943 interim edition, under IOR/X/13104/44I/1943. His account separates the edition from its earlier survey dates. That sheet reference and O.R. 6409 identify different cartographic records; their dates should travel with their respective citations.[2]

Read the legend’s alternatives

The National Archives’ CO 1054/76 reproduction marks the boundary fixed on 17 August 1947 with a solid red line and the Chenab Sikh demand with a dashed line, distinguishing an outcome from a proposal.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. British Library, Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. IOR/X/12084: India/Pakistan boundaries as fixed by the Boundary Commission 17 August 1947, O.R. 6409 Punjab ↗institutional map-catalogue description · Source date: 1947 material; catalogue date not established · Locator: Actual full file-level catalogue: Scope & Content; Extent; Scale; Physical Characteristics. Two overprinted sheets and two base-map sheets; O.R. 6409, 1947. Accessed 2026-11-01.Catalogue body inspected, not the four physical sheets or their versos. Its file-level description is distinct from the underlying map. The TNA reproduction has the same O.R. 6409 base-map identity, but identity of the physical copy is not established. Catalogue coverage coordinates are not repurposed as a map point.Return to Identify the catalogue’s version, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Shaheer Tarar; University of Toronto MA thesis, hosted by UAL Research Online. Mapping Partition: The Cartographic Construction of Pakistan ↗research thesis and documented examination of map reproductions · Source date: 2020 · Locator: Actual 93-page PDF: title page; printed pp. 62–64/PDF pp. 69–71, especially section 6.4 and figures 12–13; printed pp. 68–69/PDF pp. 75–76, figure 14 and sheet-identification discussion. Accessed 2026-11-01.Selected complete relevant body passages inspected, not just the abstract. Reproduction observations remain Tarar’s attributed account; Sadullah’s 1993 volume and original Punjab Archives map were not independently consulted. No count of assembled sheets or borrowed Chester argument is adopted. Thesis and related project/book versions share one conservative pool, including this incorporated reproduction account.Return to Trace the reproduction trail, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Trace the reproduction trail, paragraph 2 ↑
  3. The National Archives, education resource; historical map in Commonwealth Relations Office records. Partition of British India — source 2a, Punjab boundary map, CO 1054/76 ↗primary map reproduction within an education packet · Source date: 1947 map; resource publication date not established · Locator: Actual 33-page education PDF, page 16, source 2a image labelled CO 1054/76; red legend dated 17 August 1947, solid boundary and dashed Chenab demand. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual whole map image rendered and visually inspected. No original sheet, verso or complete archive file claimed read. No image is reproduced on the site.Return to Read the legend’s alternatives, paragraph 1 ↑
Help improve this entry. Suggest a correction with a source.
Record PH-COL-0046 · English edition · human review not performed