I am a PhD student studying medieval and early modern crannogs, or loch dwellings, in Scotland and wondered if you knew of any enthusiasts who might know of any maps on which they might be shown?

Matthew Shelley

The Editor: I have never seen one. Have any of our readers?

I have a map titled "Imperio D'Allemagna duiso in dieci Cerchi quali Cerchi sono ne suoi principali Stati", with  "Il Regno Di Boemia e le PROVINCIE de esso dependenti nuouam ruiuisto e corretto per N SANORE Geografo ord del Re Chrifhanis" and " Edi nuevo dato in luce da Gio Giacomo de rofsi in Roma alla  pace con Priuil del S Pont 1673"

It seems to be of the European region. I am really just trying to figure out if it is an original and what the signifance of this map is.

Adam Goodliss

The Editor: Without seeing the map it is difficult (impossible) to tell for sure, but there is no good reason to doubt that it is original. The map was published by Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, active in Rome in the fourth quarter of the seventeenth century.  I assume that this map came from his 'Mercurio Geografico', a world atlas published in the 1690's, with the individual maps variously dated from the 1670's onwards.  The map is copied from the work of the French geographer and cartographer Nicolas Sanson (d.1667), who was Geographer to the French King, and is generally regarded as the founder of the French school of Geography.  Sanson's work was very influential, and much copied by other European mapmakers.  This map, as a derivative of another map, is not of great historical importance in its own right, but is nonetheless interesting as an example of seventeenth century map publishing.

Thank you for the interesting material about Sebastian Münster (issue 10). As I am the happy owner of maps of Denmark from six different editions of Münster's Cosmographia, I search for a complete list (1544-1628) of the Cosmographia's editions. Do you know if a list exists?

Yours sincerely
Jorgen Lind
Copenhagen

Dear Editor

I am very interested in finding a facsimile of what is available from the 'Cosmographia' of Sebastian Munster.  Are there any publishers that have compiled a book of these wonderful maps, articles etc ?

If so,  I would be most appreciative if you could direct me to  the proper sources. 

Joseph Amburgey

The Editor:  My own collation is here. Three unconfirmed editions, noted by Ruland, are included. There is a facsimile of Munster's 'Cosmographia', 1550 edition, edited by R. Oehme and published by Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Press, Amsterdam in 1968. The T.O.T. series are a particularly good group of facsmiles, and most map libraries will have the set.  Robert Karrow's 'Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and Their Maps' (Chicago: Speculum Orbis Press for the Newberry Library, 1993) contain a list of the maps found in these editions (not the views and other drawings), in the chapter on Munster.

I have aquired 2 maps performed by John Speed dated 1610. They were left to me by my now deceased grandfather.

1/  Ridings of Yorkshire
2/  Stafford town and countie with Lichfield described.

They look very old, which is why my curiousity about these maps has grown. I would appreciate some insight to what I have come to own,  both for the $ value and for the family historical background.

Thank you

Samantha Collie.

The Editor:  For the background to John Speed's maps please see our biography, spread over issues 2-4. As to their authenticity, it is difficult to say with any certainty without seeing them, as Speed's maps are among the most reproduced. It is best to show them to a dealer.

The Bodleian map library suggested I ask you to help me with a question regarding Moses Pitt's English Atlas, specifically a map of the Frankfurt area of Germany in Volume II. I sincerely hope that you can.

My German Grandfather (93) is a keen local historian who is trying to establish whether the drawing of the church in the village of Goetzenhain (SSE of the city) is based on real observation, or whether it is merely a symbol. The actual church burned down soon after the map was published, and, if it is indeed a true representation of it, it will be the only one in existence, and the only clue as how to the original church must have looked.

As far as I can see, the map style is almost unique in the English Atlas - almost all of the others do seem to work with keys and symbols. The only similar style is for the neighbouring region of Wertheim. On that map, the words 'comitatus wertheimici finitarumque regionum nova et exacta descriptio' appear. They would suggest that the maps are indeed true to life - however that could just be wishful thinking.

Is there any way of finding out whether the map of Frankfurt  is based on real descriptions, or even where it would have originated. I can find no clues in any of the volumes as to whence Pitt sourced his maps.

My Grandfather and I would be most helpful for any help/advice you can give us!

Best wishes

Oliver Cartwright

The Editor:  We referred this question to Peter van der Krogt, who is currently working on the new edition of Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, and his reply forms the bones of this response.  1. In Pitt's 'English Atlas' (Oxford, 1680-1683) almost all map-plates were originally published by Johannes Janssonius from the 1630's onwards. This is the case for the Wertheim map, but the Frankfurt map is an exception, as it is not printed from a Janssonius copperplate.  2. The maps in Janssonius' atlas - and other commercially published atlases of the period - are never original works. They are always copies from other maps, mostly provided to the publishers by local agents.  Since we can expect that the non-Janssonius plates used by Pitt and his Dutch partners were also other older copperplates, and as the map is uncredited, we would suggest that the writer contacts an archive in Frankfurt or Hessen to find out if it is known which map served as a source for the plate used by Pitt, as it may have existed only in manuscript, and therefore be very hard to identify.  It is entirely possible that the image of the church is true to life, but I fear this would be exceptional for the period, when most symbols were standardised for by the cartographer.  If the symbols across this map are all similar, this is probably the case, if each is different, then you may be lucky, and find that the church is drawn from life. A positive feature is that there is not a standardised key, as found on other maps

Recently I acquired a group of "Blaeu" maps, of which one seems somewhat curious. A map with the title "TERRA FIRMA in qua Dariae Fluvius NOVUM REGNUM GRANATENSE et POPAYAN" is the map in question. The map appears identical to TERRA FIRMA et "NOVUM REGNUM GRANATENSE et POPAYAN (a not uncommon Blaeu ). The only difference between the two seems to be within the title cartouche. I have been unable to locate any reference to this title, and I would be interested in learning something about the matter. I believe the title may refer to the San Juan River (R.S. Iuan, Rio grande del Darien) which is depicted within the map. 

I would guess the map is from the Grand Atlas (Atlas Maior). The lot of maps which I came to possess appear to have been excised from a single atlas. Among them are Regna Congo e Angola, Insula S. Lavrentii, the group of Brazilian maps originally from Barlaeus's "Rerum per octennium in Brasilia" and others I believe are not found in earlier Blaeu atlases.  In addition, also included is a map titled "NOVA et Accurata BRASILAE totius TABULA (Auctore IOANNE BLAEV I.F.). It is my understanding this map (BRASILAE) did not appear at all in any Blaeu atlas, and only increases my overall curiosity.  All the maps are blank on verso. 

Any insight or guidance would be greatly appreciated. 

Tony D 
 

The Editor:  Again we asked Peter van der Krogt:  The fact that the maps are blank on verso shows that they are not from an Atlas Maior, since they have all text on verso. I suppose they are printed by one of Joan Blaeu's successor. We know that several Blaeu maps were used in later atlas factices (see p. 464 of vol. II of Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici ('KAN')).  The Brasiliae map does appear already in late editions of the Atlas Maior, see map 9850:2C in KAN II.  The addition to the title of the Terra Firma is unknown to me. The Blaeu map has only the word 'et' in the second line (map 9810:2.2). The quality of the photo is not good enough to see if the print is from the same copperplate as Blaeu's map, but in case it is, it can be a later unknown state. This agrees with the suggestion the set of maps stems from a later atlas factice published by Joan Blaeu's successor.

I have a Saxton/Kip map which has been pasted on a board and I am seeking advice as to floating it off as it is full colour is it advisable to do this?

Yours faithfully

David D'Aish

The Editor:  Take it to a dealer, who can advise you.  A good restorer can do it easily and relatively cheaply: an amateur can reduce the paper to the constituent pulp.  Much depends on the glue used to fix the map to the board: most are water soluble, there are a few that are not.  There should not be noticeable colour loss.  it is likely that the map you have is modern colour, so it should be relatively stable.

I want to know more about the woodcuts in the 1525 Strasburg edition of Ptolemy's Geographia: why some people attribute these to Dürer and why others say this is probably wrong.

-- 
Chris Impens 
University of Gent 

The Editor:  Albrecht Durer signed the woodcut of a sphere found on the reverse of folio 69, and for that reason it has been suggested that he performed the woodcut panels around the text. However, Mireille Pastoureau notes that the editor of the text, Willibald Pirckheimer, was very critical of the printer's work, most particularly of these woodcuts, and suggested that he would prefer the book be burnt, not distributed.  In this he claimed to be supported by Durer who, Pirckheimer alleged, also criticized the woodcuts (Les Atlas Francais, Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, 1984), page 378.