Discover Top Posts Tagged with #rare maps

Cartographic Curiosities, our exhibit on maps, is on display through Friday. Here are some selections.

Photo 1: Desnos, Louis Charles. Nouvelle Carte de France Divisee en 90 Departements…Paris, 1792.

Louis Charles Desnos (1725-1805) created this map during the French Revolution and during the first year of the First French Republic. It divides France into ninety departments and shows roads available at the time.

Photos 2 and 3: Homann, Johann Baptist. Amplissimae Regionis Mississipi Seu Provinciae Ludovicianae… Nuremburg, ca. 1720.

Although printed later than de l’Isle’s seminal map of the American interior, this map by Johann Homann displays a number of incongruous features. While de l’Isle’s map was renowned for its depiction of the Mississippi and its tributaries, Homann’s map shows rivers that are substantially off course or totally fictitious. Perhaps most egregiously, Florida is shown as a chain of islands rather than a peninsula.

Photo 4: Five maps created in the 1500s. Two city maps created by Georg Braun show Milan, Italy and Besançon, France. Both maps include heraldic shields and city inhabitants in traditional clothing. The three smaller maps were created by Giacomo Gastaldi and Giovanni Antonio Magini. They depict Central Asia and the Middle East.

Photo 5: Three maps of Louisiana published in 1824, 1856, and 1835, all within a few decades after Louisiana became a state in 1812.

#maps #cartography #antique maps #rare maps #special collections

Hey, Portlanders, ever wonder of the path our water takes to get to our faucets? Mostly it comes from Bull Run Lake up near Mt. Hood. And our special collections has this rare map from 1895 that shows its route (and you can see a detailed digitized version here at our Gallery)...

#bull run #maps #rare maps #water #1895

Today we bid a fond farewell to Special Collections Project Cataloger, Jennifer Dunlap, as she embarks on a new adventure at the Houghton Library at Harvard University. We wish her well! Jennifer’s parting gift to us (and you!) is a highlight of some of her favorite items here at the UChicago Special Collections Research Center.

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1. Duns Scotus’ Ordinatio I. [Venice] : [Johannes Herbort, de Seligenstadt, for Johannes de Colonia, Nicolaus Jenson et Socii], [1481]. This volume contains the first part of Duns Scotus’ Ordinatio or Quaestiones in quattuor libros Sententiarum (commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard). This volume is perhaps the most interesting binding of all the SCRC incunabula featuring blind tooled pigskin over wooden boards with brass “furniture” (metal attachments on the cover, usually to protect the binding), catches, and clasps. (Incun 1481.D9 Rare c.1)

2. Boethius. Boetius De philosophico consolatu … [Strassburg] : [Johann Grüniger], [1501]. Aside from the wonderful hand-colored woodcut illustrations, SCRC’s copy is full of provenance information including annotations, manicules, former owner’s inscriptions, and a few manuscript poems. (alc B659.D2 1501 Rare)

3. Barentsz, Willem. Deliniatio cartae trium navigationum per Batavos, ad Septentrionaelm plagam, Norvegiae, Moscoviae, et Nova Semblae … [Amsterdam] : [Cornelius Nicolai], [1598]. This map was produced to highlight the three expeditions undertaken by Dutch explorer and cartographer Willem Barentsz (c.1550-1597) between 1594 and 1597 in search of a Northeast Passage. It depicts he Arctic regions including Greenland, Iceland, northern Scandinavia, and northern Russia, as well as the routes that Barentsz’ ships took, not to mention numerous map monsters. (alc ff G3270 1598.B3)

4. Tennyson, Alfred. The ode by Alfred Tennyson on the opening of the Exhibition, 1862. [Coventry] : [Charles Newsome], [1862]. Part of the Gerald N. Wachs Collection of Nineteenth-Century English Poetry, this silk souvenir ribbon from the 1862 International Exhibition features Tennyson’s Ode on the opening of the Exhibition and a woven image of the Crystal Palace, where the exhibition was held. Tennyson was asked to write a piece which would be set to music by composer William Sterndale Bennett and performed at the opening of the Exhibition. The ribbon was designed by Edwin Rollason and produced by ribbon manufacturer Charles Newsome of Coventry. Newsome’s intertwined monogram appears at the top of the design in gold and cream. (ff PR5568.O15 1862)

5. Apian, Peter. Astronomicum Caesareum. [Ingolstadt] : [Peter Apian], [May 1540]. Another beautiful hand-colored 16th century imprint, this edition includes 22 volvelles, several of which feature the striking dragon design seen on the title page. SCRC’s copy is inscribed by Tycho Brahe to mathematician and astronomer Paul Wittich. (alc ff QB41.A639 1540 Rare)

6. Gart der Gesundheit. [Augsburg] : [Johann Schönsperger], [5 June 1486]. This German herbal printed in 1486 includes a wonderful example of a printer’s error, that of fallen type, near the end of the text. Fallen type occurs when a piece of type gets snagged on the leather covering of the ink balls while one of the pressmen is inking the form, gets pulled out of its place in the form, and ends up getting imprinted long-wise onto the page. These errors are fairly infrequent as the error would typically be noticed when the paper was removed from the press and the printer would return the fallen type to its place in the form and continue on with the job. (Incun 1486.G17 RareCr)

7. Dante Alighieri. [Divina commedia]. [Venice] : [Bartolomeo de Zanni de Portesio], [17 June 1507]. This copy of the 1507 printing of Dante’s Divine comedy has been heavily censored, probably in accordance with "Index librorum prohibitorum et expurgatorum ... D. Sandoval ex Roxas" of 1612, with the questionable sections of the text completely crossed out with wide vertical stripes of ink. (PQ4302.B07)

#rare books #rare maps #incunabula #censorship #early printing #typography #tennyson #crystal palace #book bindings #Illustration #rare books cataloging #catalogers #volvelles #woodcuts #woodcut illustration #hand coloring

Happy Winter Solstice! This map shows winter constellations visible in Great Britain. Here are some of the featured constellations along with their affiliations to Greek mythology:

Cetus the whale (Cetus is a sea monster killed by Perseus)

Andromeda, who is in chains (she is chained to a rock to be eaten by Cetus, but she is saved by Perseus, her future husband)

Perseus, holding Medusa’s head (he is the son of Zeus and Danaë, the slayer of Medusa and Cetus, and the husband of Andromeda)

Auriga, holding a goat (he is often a charioteer)

Orion the hunter, holding a lion skin (he is the son of Neptune and is placed in the stars by Diana after she accidentally kills him)

Image from:

James Middleton's A celestial atlas containing maps of all the constellations visible in Great Britain... London: Whittaker and Co. ; Norwich: Jarrold and Sons, 1846?

Call Number: QB65 .M46 1846

Catalog record: https://bit.ly/2BygdW8

#celestial maps #constellations #rare maps #antique maps #special collections

This view of Frankfurt am Main shows the German city as it existed in the middle of the seventeenth century. In addition to showing the general layout of the city, it also includes a legend that lists notable landmarks. The city center is dominated by the “Prediger Closter,” a Dominican monastery founded in the 13th century. The original building survived until 1944 (when it was destroyed by Allied bombing), although it had not been used for religious purposes since the early 1800s. Also visible is the city’s moat and walls. These fortifications were removed in the early nineteenth century. In place of the walls, the area is now covered by a park.

Images from: Merian, Mattheus. Francofurtum. Frankfurt am Main: Mattheus Merian, ca. 1640.

Call number: G3200 Drawer 3 Map 2

Link to catalog record: https://bit.ly/3c8yfkc

#frankfurt #germany #german maps #frankfurt maps #europe maps #rare maps #antiquarian maps

This 1850 map of Louisiana shows canals, roads, and steamboat routes. It includes the distance of steamboat routes from New Orleans to Pittsburgh, Natchitoches, and Balize. (Balize is a historical town that was located at the mouth of the Mississippi River until the 1850s when residents began to move upriver to a settlement called Pilottown, which was near modern-day Venice).

The map was hand colored to show the borders of each parish and the neighborhoods of New Orleans.

Images from:

A new map of Louisiana... Philadelphia : Published by Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1850.

Call number: G3200 DRAWER 1 MAP 40

Catalog record: https://bit.ly/3Dw1I2T

#louisiana maps #new orleans maps #new orleans #louisiana #antique maps #antiquarian maps #rare maps

This map shows the Mississippi, Red, and Black Rivers according to Jacques-Nicolas Bellin’s observations during his role as a hydrographic engineer for the French government. It is included in his 1764 work, Petit Atlas Maritime, which contains over 500 maps of coasts and port cities.

Here is a translation of the map’s “Remarques sur la Riviere Rouge” (Remarks on the Red River).

The Red River is very difficult to navigate upriver, especially in low waters, but in high waters, we pass everywhere. Along its banks, there are a lot of lakes and wetlands. This river is full of crocodiles and fish. Its banks are abundant in wild animals such as oxen [or buffalo], bears, tigers, wolves, stags, and deer. There is also a quantity of game such as turkeys, geese, bustards, swans, and ducks of all species. All sorts of wild fruit trees and vine stocks that contain muscat [grapes] and other grapes.

Images from: Bellin, Jacques Nicolas. Suite du cours du fleuve St. Louis : depuis la rivière d'Iberville jusq'à celle des Yasous, et les parties connues de la Rivière Rouge et la Rivière Noire. Paris, 1764.

Call Number: G3200 DRAWER 1 MAP 39

Catalog Record: https://bit.ly/30rj5Ec

#maps #antique maps #rare maps #mississippi river #red river #louisiana maps #louisiana

This cartouche, found on an 18th century map of North America, is representative of European conceptions of the New World. It displays Native people side-by-side with wildlife, evoking the feeling of an untamed continent and blurring the distinction between person and animal. The two Native Americans are depicted as an amalgamation of eastern aboriginals in their manner of dress. The animals depicted are similarly vague. The buffalo bears a strong resemblance to forms more familiar to Europeans, namely the humped species of Asia. Also depicted are a possum and ibis. Finally, the cartouche is topped with a depiction of a cornucopia pouring forth its contents. This is the essence of the European idea of the New World: endless riches. The pursuit of gold, furs, arable land, and religious converts drove centuries of bloody expansion that would decimate Native populations, reshape the land, and drive some native fauna to near extinction.

Image from: Homann, Johann Baptist. Amplissimae Regionis Mississipi seu Provinciae Ludovicianae. Norimbergae: Nova tabula edita â Io. Bapt. Homanno, 1720.

Call number: G3200 DRAWER 2 MAP 6

Catalog record: https://bit.ly/3H2wkMD

#maps #rare maps #antique maps #cartouche

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