Gillmark Gallery is not just an internet trading company. The map shop, in Hertford, Hertfordshire, opened in 1997 and is owned and managed by Mark and Gill Pretlove. As keen collectors we have been buying old maps & antique prints for over 20 years, our first map was a 1610 William Kip map of Hertfordshire - we were astonished that we could buy an original printed map from the early Jacobean period for under £100! Other purchases soon followed and our antique map collecting began in earnest. In 1997 we had the opportunity to open a shop and earn a living from our hobby and love of old vintage maps.We both have an art school background and Gill had experience in her previous job as a cartographic draughtswoman in colourwashing Ordnance Survey and land use maps. Her background and training, combined with her love of old maps gives her the neccessary skills to be an 'illumineur' or map colourist,