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A neglected map of the world
- 1-3-1989
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Nevertheless, the 142 places marked on the second state of Doppelmayr's map are a considerable advance on the forty-three locations marked on the 1696 world map by Cassini, representÂing the Academie Royale's findings up to that time. Between the 1740s and the end of the eighteenth century, the positions of many more places were more exactly defined. In 1817 the German geographer Franz August von Etzel, estimated that the number of places accurately observed had risen to 6,000, two thirds of which were on the continent of Europe [5]
In contrast to the serious scientific nature of the content of Doppelmayr's map the pictorial scenes around the hemispheres at first sight merely seem to add attractive decorative relief. But the scenes are drawn in instructively accurate detail, and the description below (provided by courtesy of Roger Mason) emphasises their significance.
'In the lower spandrels arc finely-executed engravings of cherubs using contemporary instruments on the roof of an observatory. On the left are two long refracting telescopes, of which onc is being used by a cherub and is sighted on the eclipse of the moon in the top right-hand spandrel. With the aid of a pendulum clock and a circular comparison scale he gives readings to an assistant with a log-book. In the centre a solar projector is used to measure the eclipse of the sun in the spandrel directly above. Of three cherubs, one is making the observations, one is scribing off the proportions of the eclipse from a projection screen while a third cherub attends to the accurate working of the clock. On the right, longitude is being determined by observing the transit of the moons of Jupiter in the upper left spandrel with a long refracting telescope; an assistant is taking notes with the aid of a candle which is also lighting the face of a pendulum clock. A large quadrant in the background is being used as a check on the accuracy of the clock. [6]
Doppelmayr's map is undated and hence when it was first printed is uncertain. Bagrow, illustrating state 1, assigns to it the unlikely date 1733, nine years after Homann's death [7]. Sandler lists it under the group of maps produced for Homann atlases between 1716 and 1724 and, in a footnote citing Homann's contemporary Hübner, suggests the year 1722 [8]. The second state, with the four additional observations, probably dates from shortly after 1738 when Maupertuis and his colleagues reported the findings of their polar circle expedition to Tornio. In this second state the plate now bears the number '15' in the top right-hand corner and may be found in editions of Doppelmayr's main work, his Atlas Novus Coelestis published from 1742 onwards.
In many ways Doppelmayr's map was in advance of its time. I know of no successor or comparable 'scientific' world map over the next half century. Mainly as a result of initiatives by the French, there was a recognition that an accurate map of the world must rest on the precise measurement of basic parameters such as the length of one degree arc of meridian. In the 1740s France became the first country to be surveyed by exact triangulation methods, using the most advanced techniques of the time. However, it was not until 17R3 that proposals were made by Cassini de Thury, the grandson of Jean-Dominique Cassini, for England and France to be linked trigonometrically. A year later General Roy began his base line measurements on Hounslow Heath which were to lead to the beginning of the British Ordnance Survey. Further afield, successive explorations to remote parts of the world gradually filled in the gaps in the mapping of Australasia, north-east Asia and the polar regions. But in spite of these advances and the completion of numerous national surveys throughout the nineteenth century, accurate: mapping on a world scale had to await the aerial and satellite techniques of the twentieth century.
References:
Acknowledgements:
I am grateful to Francis Herbert for his suggestions and for his comments on Doppelmayr's figurework: to John Goss for paraphrasing into English parts of Sandler's writing on Homann: and to Charles Craddock of Jordans for his translations of the two Latin cartouches on Doppelmayr's map.
COPYRIGHT 1989 Rodney W. Shirley , 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.
In contrast to the serious scientific nature of the content of Doppelmayr's map the pictorial scenes around the hemispheres at first sight merely seem to add attractive decorative relief. But the scenes are drawn in instructively accurate detail, and the description below (provided by courtesy of Roger Mason) emphasises their significance.
'In the lower spandrels arc finely-executed engravings of cherubs using contemporary instruments on the roof of an observatory. On the left are two long refracting telescopes, of which onc is being used by a cherub and is sighted on the eclipse of the moon in the top right-hand spandrel. With the aid of a pendulum clock and a circular comparison scale he gives readings to an assistant with a log-book. In the centre a solar projector is used to measure the eclipse of the sun in the spandrel directly above. Of three cherubs, one is making the observations, one is scribing off the proportions of the eclipse from a projection screen while a third cherub attends to the accurate working of the clock. On the right, longitude is being determined by observing the transit of the moons of Jupiter in the upper left spandrel with a long refracting telescope; an assistant is taking notes with the aid of a candle which is also lighting the face of a pendulum clock. A large quadrant in the background is being used as a check on the accuracy of the clock. [6]
Doppelmayr's map is undated and hence when it was first printed is uncertain. Bagrow, illustrating state 1, assigns to it the unlikely date 1733, nine years after Homann's death [7]. Sandler lists it under the group of maps produced for Homann atlases between 1716 and 1724 and, in a footnote citing Homann's contemporary Hübner, suggests the year 1722 [8]. The second state, with the four additional observations, probably dates from shortly after 1738 when Maupertuis and his colleagues reported the findings of their polar circle expedition to Tornio. In this second state the plate now bears the number '15' in the top right-hand corner and may be found in editions of Doppelmayr's main work, his Atlas Novus Coelestis published from 1742 onwards.
In many ways Doppelmayr's map was in advance of its time. I know of no successor or comparable 'scientific' world map over the next half century. Mainly as a result of initiatives by the French, there was a recognition that an accurate map of the world must rest on the precise measurement of basic parameters such as the length of one degree arc of meridian. In the 1740s France became the first country to be surveyed by exact triangulation methods, using the most advanced techniques of the time. However, it was not until 17R3 that proposals were made by Cassini de Thury, the grandson of Jean-Dominique Cassini, for England and France to be linked trigonometrically. A year later General Roy began his base line measurements on Hounslow Heath which were to lead to the beginning of the British Ordnance Survey. Further afield, successive explorations to remote parts of the world gradually filled in the gaps in the mapping of Australasia, north-east Asia and the polar regions. But in spite of these advances and the completion of numerous national surveys throughout the nineteenth century, accurate: mapping on a world scale had to await the aerial and satellite techniques of the twentieth century.
References:
- Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. IV (New York: 1971); Neue Deutsche Diographic, Band 4, (Berlin, 1959) C. Sandler, Homann. Seutter und ihre Landkarten, (Amsterdam: 1964) reprint of 1886 and 1894 texts.
- See entries in Old Globes in the Netherlands by Peter van der Krogt (Utrecht, 1984).
- Rodney W. Shirley, The mapping of the world, (London: 1984) entry 579; Rodney W. Shirley, All the world within a circle ... , The Mal' Collector, March 1980, pp.9-10.
- An account of Maupertuis' expedition to Lapland is given in J. R. Smith From plane to spheroid, (Rancho Cordova: 1986).
- Lloyd A. Brown, The story of maps, (New York: 1979) reprint of 1949 edition. Pp. 10 and 11.
- The Map Collector, March 1985, p.15.
- Leo Bagrow, History of cartography ed. R. Skelton, (Chicago: 1985) plate CXI. 8 Sandler, op.cit., pp. 60 and 80.
Acknowledgements:
I am grateful to Francis Herbert for his suggestions and for his comments on Doppelmayr's figurework: to John Goss for paraphrasing into English parts of Sandler's writing on Homann: and to Charles Craddock of Jordans for his translations of the two Latin cartouches on Doppelmayr's map.
COPYRIGHT 1989 Rodney W. Shirley , 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.
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