- Home
- Books, Manuscripts and Maps
- Maps
- Collecting Maps on Stamps
Collecting Maps on Stamps
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 June 1980
- Maps
- Unrated
The Map Collector
The Map Collector, initiated by Peter Scott and Valerie G. Newby, was a journal on historical cartography published every quarter. The first issue appeared in 1997 and continued for nearly 20 years. After 74 issues the last copy appeared in Spring 1996. Mrs. Valerie G. Newby, is presently editor of the IMCoS Journal.
www.imcos.org
Such designs as these are praiseworthy in their depiction of old maps, often difficult enough to reproduce successfully as book illustrations, let alone as the subject of a stamp design several times reduced in format from the original and in a totally different printing medium. Many old maps have elaborately engraved decorative devices such as ornate title cartouches, large compass roses, figured scale cartouches and indeed large areas of decoration put in by the original mapmaker (often) to disguise cartographic deficiency or to conceal the fact that he had, as was almost legion in those days, plagiarised his map from another source without acknowledgement, or placed mythical animals at strategic places, giving rise to Jonathan Swift's oft-quoted quatrain, published in 1733 in On Poetry, A Rapsody:
So Geographers in Afric-maps,
With Savage-Pictures fill their Gaps;
And o'er uninhabitable Downs
Place Elephants for want of Towns.
Swift's remarks are said to have been inspired by a chart of John Seller of the West Indies which shows also the western part of the African continent occupied by a splendid large elephant.
(Set of four) Jamaica 1976 sixteenth century maps issue (SG 411 -414) based on maps by Bordone, Porcacchi, de Bry and Langenes. (By courtesy of John Goss.)
The writer has the feeling that there was certainly a want of feeling for good design which produced the disappointing British Virgin Islands map set in 1977 (SG 367-70). This set reproduced maps and charts published between 1738 and 1779 but so poorly and with fussy lettering and 'cartouches' out of keeping with their subject. This is all the more disappointing since the 1952 definitive issue for the same territory included some particularly fine map stamps, albeit inspired by a modern British Admiralty chart, showing 2c, Jost van Dyke; 4c, Anegada; 8c, Virgin Gorda; 12c, Tortola, and $4.80, a general map of the Virgin Islands (SG 137, 139,141,142 and 147).
The subject of old maps on stamps is one that is large and growing, but the serious thematist can limit himself successfully within this field to show, for example, the routes of explorers and their discoveries as depicted on stamps. The fine 1940 New Zealand Id Centennial showing Capt Cook and a map of New Zealand already has been mentioned, but the same issue included in the 2d value (SG 612) a particularly neat depiction of Abel Janszoon Tasman, the Dutch seventeenth century navigator, his flagship three-master Heemskerck and a chart of the western coast of Statenlandt at the point where the later-discovered Cook Strait separates North from South Island as drawn in 1642. Until James Cook showed otherwise in his circumnavigation of the islands in 1769, Tasman's discovery was considered as part of the so-called 'Great Southern Continent.'
(Set of four) Jamaica 1977, seventeenth century maps issue (SG 425-428) based on maps by Hickeringill, Ogilby, Visscher and Thornton. (By courtesy of John Goss.)
Sometimes the very name of a territory calls to mind its depiction on an old map: Newfoundland. In 1933, Newfoundland issued a. set of stamps commemorating the 350th aniversary of the formal annexation of the island to England on August 5, 1583 by Sir Humphrey Gilbert by authority Letters Patent of Elizabeth 1. The 20c value (SG 247) shows part of Captain John Mason's map, 'Insula olim vocata Nova Terrae. The Iland called of oIde Newfound land,' published at London as the frontispiece to Sir William Vaughan's The Golden Fleece, 1626. Perkins, Bacon's production of the stamp issue gives a good idea of the appearance of the original engraved map, which is oriented south at the top. For long, mapmakers oriented their maps to any of the four cardinal points of the compass, such a practice often being dictated by the size of the copper engraving plate or woodblock available and also the particular shape of the territory to be shown on the map. Although we are nowadays accustomed to a northward orientation on our maps, John Mason's map of Newfoundland was for a long time the best delineation of the island. Mason's map showed the location of the English settlements on the A valon Peninsula (top left on the stamp) in the vicinity of the present-day St John's. Vaughan made use of the map at the time in order to express his high hopes for the English settlement.
(Set of four) British Virgin Islands 1977 map stamp issue (SG 367-370) based on charts by seventeenth century English and French cartographers. (By courtesy of John Goss.)
The collecting of maps on stamps has given rise to the term carto-philately and for those interested in exploring the subject further, there is a specialist branch of the American Topical Association which publishes The Carto-Philatelist, a quarterly publication edited by Evelyn T. Nelson, 249 Hoffman Street, Franklin Square, Long Island NY 11010, USA. This publication is now in its 24th volume - a fact in itself sufficient testimony to the interest in maps on stamps - and often has detailed articles on particular subjects in the theme of map stamps, as for example, a recent article by WaIter Klinefelter on the Canadian exploration of Jacques Cartier CJacques Cartier's Canadian Exploration' in: The Carto-Philatelist Vol XXII, Issue No. 3, p 24. Also recommended is the American Topical Association's own Topical Handbook No 26: Map Stamps of the World and subsequent additions in the columns of Topical Time, both published by the American Topical Association, 3306 North 50th Street, Milwaukee WI 53216, USA. A brief study of explorers' routes was published in 1964 by the now-defunct Map Collectors' Circle, London, entitled Ancient Maps and Explorers' Routes on Stamps, as Vot. II, No 15 in the series, but is, unfortunately, now out of print.
COPYRIGHT June 1980 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
So Geographers in Afric-maps,
With Savage-Pictures fill their Gaps;
And o'er uninhabitable Downs
Place Elephants for want of Towns.
Swift's remarks are said to have been inspired by a chart of John Seller of the West Indies which shows also the western part of the African continent occupied by a splendid large elephant.
(Set of four) Jamaica 1976 sixteenth century maps issue (SG 411 -414) based on maps by Bordone, Porcacchi, de Bry and Langenes. (By courtesy of John Goss.)
The writer has the feeling that there was certainly a want of feeling for good design which produced the disappointing British Virgin Islands map set in 1977 (SG 367-70). This set reproduced maps and charts published between 1738 and 1779 but so poorly and with fussy lettering and 'cartouches' out of keeping with their subject. This is all the more disappointing since the 1952 definitive issue for the same territory included some particularly fine map stamps, albeit inspired by a modern British Admiralty chart, showing 2c, Jost van Dyke; 4c, Anegada; 8c, Virgin Gorda; 12c, Tortola, and $4.80, a general map of the Virgin Islands (SG 137, 139,141,142 and 147).
The subject of old maps on stamps is one that is large and growing, but the serious thematist can limit himself successfully within this field to show, for example, the routes of explorers and their discoveries as depicted on stamps. The fine 1940 New Zealand Id Centennial showing Capt Cook and a map of New Zealand already has been mentioned, but the same issue included in the 2d value (SG 612) a particularly neat depiction of Abel Janszoon Tasman, the Dutch seventeenth century navigator, his flagship three-master Heemskerck and a chart of the western coast of Statenlandt at the point where the later-discovered Cook Strait separates North from South Island as drawn in 1642. Until James Cook showed otherwise in his circumnavigation of the islands in 1769, Tasman's discovery was considered as part of the so-called 'Great Southern Continent.'
(Set of four) Jamaica 1977, seventeenth century maps issue (SG 425-428) based on maps by Hickeringill, Ogilby, Visscher and Thornton. (By courtesy of John Goss.)
Sometimes the very name of a territory calls to mind its depiction on an old map: Newfoundland. In 1933, Newfoundland issued a. set of stamps commemorating the 350th aniversary of the formal annexation of the island to England on August 5, 1583 by Sir Humphrey Gilbert by authority Letters Patent of Elizabeth 1. The 20c value (SG 247) shows part of Captain John Mason's map, 'Insula olim vocata Nova Terrae. The Iland called of oIde Newfound land,' published at London as the frontispiece to Sir William Vaughan's The Golden Fleece, 1626. Perkins, Bacon's production of the stamp issue gives a good idea of the appearance of the original engraved map, which is oriented south at the top. For long, mapmakers oriented their maps to any of the four cardinal points of the compass, such a practice often being dictated by the size of the copper engraving plate or woodblock available and also the particular shape of the territory to be shown on the map. Although we are nowadays accustomed to a northward orientation on our maps, John Mason's map of Newfoundland was for a long time the best delineation of the island. Mason's map showed the location of the English settlements on the A valon Peninsula (top left on the stamp) in the vicinity of the present-day St John's. Vaughan made use of the map at the time in order to express his high hopes for the English settlement.
(Set of four) British Virgin Islands 1977 map stamp issue (SG 367-370) based on charts by seventeenth century English and French cartographers. (By courtesy of John Goss.)
The collecting of maps on stamps has given rise to the term carto-philately and for those interested in exploring the subject further, there is a specialist branch of the American Topical Association which publishes The Carto-Philatelist, a quarterly publication edited by Evelyn T. Nelson, 249 Hoffman Street, Franklin Square, Long Island NY 11010, USA. This publication is now in its 24th volume - a fact in itself sufficient testimony to the interest in maps on stamps - and often has detailed articles on particular subjects in the theme of map stamps, as for example, a recent article by WaIter Klinefelter on the Canadian exploration of Jacques Cartier CJacques Cartier's Canadian Exploration' in: The Carto-Philatelist Vol XXII, Issue No. 3, p 24. Also recommended is the American Topical Association's own Topical Handbook No 26: Map Stamps of the World and subsequent additions in the columns of Topical Time, both published by the American Topical Association, 3306 North 50th Street, Milwaukee WI 53216, USA. A brief study of explorers' routes was published in 1964 by the now-defunct Map Collectors' Circle, London, entitled Ancient Maps and Explorers' Routes on Stamps, as Vot. II, No 15 in the series, but is, unfortunately, now out of print.
COPYRIGHT June 1980 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
