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Whose Map Is It Anyway ?
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 September 1986
- 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
by Christopher W. Lane
Some opening thoughts by a dealer in Pennsylvania on the authorship of early maps. There is no doubt that beginners to the map collecting field do get confused about who made which map and Christopher Lane offers some considerations and principles which he hopes will provoke discussion amongst scholars,
collectors and dealers.
WHEN FIRST INTRODUCED, to antique printed maps it appears that they are, on the whole, by a fairly small group of cartographers like Ptolemy, Ortelius, Mercator, Blaeu, Delisle and so on. It might appear odd that so few individuals could produce such a large number of maps but, on learning more about the subject, you find that many of these maps are not really the 'original' work of these famous cartographers but are instead 'after' or `based on' or even `drawn by' relatively obscure local cartographers. At this stage you begin to ask the question, `whose map is it?'
This is a tricky question and one for which there appears to be no generally accepted answer. In this discussion, I offer some considerations and principles that I hope will be a start towards a consistent carto-bibliographic policy amongst scholars, collectors and dealers for ascribing authorship. I do not cover manuscript maps, nor anything published after the nineteenth century, because in this era the question was clouded by further issues such as the anonymity of the cartographers of large publishing firms.
Most maps are collaborative efforts, not the offspring of single individuals and several different people may have some claim to authorship. Because a map is a print, the person who actually `drew' the lines on the map is the engraver. However, the engraver clearly should not be considered as the author. He is the person supposed to take the `original' map by the author (be it a manuscript drawing or another printed map) and then faithfully reproduce the image onto the copper plate or woodblock. He is supposed to do this in exact duplication, acting as a human cog in the process of producing the printed map from the `original', not as the author of an original work.
It is not quite so simple as all this, however, for the engraver's style of engraving, calligraphy, shading, etc. does have a great deal to do with the map's appearance, and this in turn greatly affects the information the map conveys, for the neatness, precision, emphasis and style of the engraving have a subtle yet definite impact on our reading of the map. In a few cases, for instance with many of Gerard Mercator's maps, the author and engraver are one, but this is not usual. In cases where the author and engraver are distinct, the latter might make mistakes, distort or even improve the author's original depiction. This makes it well worth knowing who the engraver is, for this knowledge adds to the understanding of the map. This is not enough, however, to give the engraver any claim to authorship, for like the actor who greatly influences the reading of a playwright's script, the engraver is a presenter not an author. So who then is the author of a map? For any one map, there can be many people each with a good claim to this title. For clarity and convenience, I will split these claimants into two groups; the `surveyor-cartographers' and the 'publisher-cartographers'. This division does not always apply, for there will be instances where the titles are somewhat inappropriate, and there can be more than one person involved for one map under either heading; however the division is applicable in most cases and can help clarify matters.
The surveyor-cartographer can be thought of as the person who made the actual survey of the land depicted, or gathered the first-hand geographic information on the area from travellers and local inhabitants. He then compiled this information and used it to draw a map. Essentially, this is the process of taking non-cartographic data and turning it into a cartographic depiction. The resulting maps were often left in manuscript form, or if printed, usually only in a very limited edition. These maps were usually of quite small regions, and would often be limited to local use. Beyond this local use, however, these maps would provide primary cartographic data for the 'publisher-cartographer', as his 'source maps'.
The publisher-cartographer can be thought of as the person who used source maps by surveyor-cartographers to produce and then publish his own maps. The publisher-cartographer did not draw his maps from first-hand non-cartographic information, but took the source maps of surveyor-cartographers and compiled them into a more general and publishable form. His maps were often of larger areas, were part of a series or an atlas, and were intended for extensive distribution. Almost all the most famous individuals in the history of cartography fall into this category.
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[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT September 1986 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.
Some opening thoughts by a dealer in Pennsylvania on the authorship of early maps. There is no doubt that beginners to the map collecting field do get confused about who made which map and Christopher Lane offers some considerations and principles which he hopes will provoke discussion amongst scholars,
collectors and dealers.
WHEN FIRST INTRODUCED, to antique printed maps it appears that they are, on the whole, by a fairly small group of cartographers like Ptolemy, Ortelius, Mercator, Blaeu, Delisle and so on. It might appear odd that so few individuals could produce such a large number of maps but, on learning more about the subject, you find that many of these maps are not really the 'original' work of these famous cartographers but are instead 'after' or `based on' or even `drawn by' relatively obscure local cartographers. At this stage you begin to ask the question, `whose map is it?'
This is a tricky question and one for which there appears to be no generally accepted answer. In this discussion, I offer some considerations and principles that I hope will be a start towards a consistent carto-bibliographic policy amongst scholars, collectors and dealers for ascribing authorship. I do not cover manuscript maps, nor anything published after the nineteenth century, because in this era the question was clouded by further issues such as the anonymity of the cartographers of large publishing firms.
Most maps are collaborative efforts, not the offspring of single individuals and several different people may have some claim to authorship. Because a map is a print, the person who actually `drew' the lines on the map is the engraver. However, the engraver clearly should not be considered as the author. He is the person supposed to take the `original' map by the author (be it a manuscript drawing or another printed map) and then faithfully reproduce the image onto the copper plate or woodblock. He is supposed to do this in exact duplication, acting as a human cog in the process of producing the printed map from the `original', not as the author of an original work.
It is not quite so simple as all this, however, for the engraver's style of engraving, calligraphy, shading, etc. does have a great deal to do with the map's appearance, and this in turn greatly affects the information the map conveys, for the neatness, precision, emphasis and style of the engraving have a subtle yet definite impact on our reading of the map. In a few cases, for instance with many of Gerard Mercator's maps, the author and engraver are one, but this is not usual. In cases where the author and engraver are distinct, the latter might make mistakes, distort or even improve the author's original depiction. This makes it well worth knowing who the engraver is, for this knowledge adds to the understanding of the map. This is not enough, however, to give the engraver any claim to authorship, for like the actor who greatly influences the reading of a playwright's script, the engraver is a presenter not an author. So who then is the author of a map? For any one map, there can be many people each with a good claim to this title. For clarity and convenience, I will split these claimants into two groups; the `surveyor-cartographers' and the 'publisher-cartographers'. This division does not always apply, for there will be instances where the titles are somewhat inappropriate, and there can be more than one person involved for one map under either heading; however the division is applicable in most cases and can help clarify matters.
The surveyor-cartographer can be thought of as the person who made the actual survey of the land depicted, or gathered the first-hand geographic information on the area from travellers and local inhabitants. He then compiled this information and used it to draw a map. Essentially, this is the process of taking non-cartographic data and turning it into a cartographic depiction. The resulting maps were often left in manuscript form, or if printed, usually only in a very limited edition. These maps were usually of quite small regions, and would often be limited to local use. Beyond this local use, however, these maps would provide primary cartographic data for the 'publisher-cartographer', as his 'source maps'.
The publisher-cartographer can be thought of as the person who used source maps by surveyor-cartographers to produce and then publish his own maps. The publisher-cartographer did not draw his maps from first-hand non-cartographic information, but took the source maps of surveyor-cartographers and compiled them into a more general and publishable form. His maps were often of larger areas, were part of a series or an atlas, and were intended for extensive distribution. Almost all the most famous individuals in the history of cartography fall into this category.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT September 1986 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.
