The Brussels Map Circle

Home → News

News

Newsletter No 52 cover
Newsletter No 52

Contents

  • Places with maps
    • Museo Naval in Madrid
  • Pictures at an exhibition
    • Lafreri, Italian Cartography in the Renaissance
  • Looks at books
    • Lafreri: Italian Cartography in the Renaissance
    • Body Worlds - Opicinus de Canistris and the Medieval Cartographic Imagination
    • Around Philippe Vandermaelen
    • The Dauphiné
    • Shorter bibliographical notes
  • History and Cartography
    • How old are Portolan charts really?
    • Mechlinia Dominium, the smallest of the XVII Provinces
  • Interview
    • How I got into cartography: Benjamin Sacks
  • BIMCC news
    • Brussels Map Circle - 2014 Activity report
    • Brussels Map Circle - AGM report
    • Brussels Map Circle - Map Afternoon report
    • Brussels Map Circle - 2015 Programme
  • International news
  • Events calendar
  • Exhibition calendar
  • Auction calendar
  • Posted on

    The proceedings of Cartography and Cadastral maps held in Pisa 6 - 7 November 2013, are online and free for download at this link http://edizioni.sns.it/it/testi-online/pdf-scaricabile-282.html. The printed version is also available at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa. Telephone. +39 050 509 787.

    Posted on

    The Spanish ministry of Defense has announced the publication of a collective work coordinated by Mariano Cuesta Domingo and entitled Cartografía Hispánica: 1800 - 1975. Una cartografía inestable en un mundo convulso.
    The book, around 700 pages long, covers the cartography practised over those two centuries in Spain and Portugal, including their respective overseas possessions in Africa, America and the Pacific.
    It can be ordered (paper version only) at the following site. ISBN 978-84-9091-017-7.
    Luis A. Robles Macías

    Posted on

    The contents of this issue are as follows:
    • Editorial (Lauren Beck)
    • Exchanges about Discovery and Exploration (Call for Papers)
    • The Bimini Ghost Maps of William P. Cumming (Gregory C. McIntosh)
    • The Representation of the West Indies in Early Iberian Cartography: A Cartometric Approach (Joaquim Alves Gaspar)
    • Asian Geographical Features Misplaced South of the Equator on Sixteenth-century Maps (W. A. R. (Bill) Richardson)
    • Recent Literature in Discovery History (Joshua Michael Marcotte)
    • Book Reviews (Compiled by David Buisseret)
    • New World, New Germs: The Role of European Expansion in the Development of Germ Theory (Josephine Benson)

    Posted on

    We just learnt about the death, on 17 April 2015, of Ulla Ehrensvärd, aged 88. A well-known map historian, she received, among many other distinctions, the prestigious Helen Wallis Award from IMCoS in June last year – see our congratulatory note in Maps in History No 50, September 2014. Lisette Danckaert, who knew her quite well, adds: She will be remembered through her many significant contributions to the History of Cartography as 'La Grande Dame du Nord'.

    Posted on

    Oxbow Books are delighted to announce the publication of the British Historic Towns Atlas Volume IV: Windsor and Eton. For the first time, new research by historians, archaeologists and cartographers has been brought together to compile this unique and original portfolio – a definitive account in maps and words of the historic royal towns of Windsor and Eton.
    Want to find out more? Click on the jacket below or read Cartographic Editor Giles Darkes' post on the process of preparing the maps for the Windsor and Eton Atlas by clicking here.
    The Windsor and Eton Atlas includes a substantial introduction to the history of these distinctive towns charting their development over eight centuries. All the buildings, historic sites and streets named on the maps are comprehensively documented in a detailed gazetteer.
    The value of the atlas is enhanced by the inclusion of numerous colour illustrations, including early maps and views of the towns, many of them previously unknown.
    Presented as a large-format, high-quality A3 folder the atlas includes maps and illustrations printed at A2 allowing clear details to be seen.
    There are high-quality and original maps of the two towns at key periods between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries.

    Posted on

    The very first International Geographical Conference (1871) took place in Antwerp, and the people behind this initiative were also the founding fathers of what became known as the Royal Antwerp Geographical Society ('Koninklijk Aardrijkskundig Genootschap van Antwerpen' or 'KAGA').
    The first ever Congrès international des Sciences géographiques, cosmographiques et commerciales took place in Antwerp in 1871. Although it was a local initiative, it was a model for later conferences in terms of organization, structure and choice of themes.
    One of the key figures in the Organizing Committee of the conference was City Archivist Pieter Génard. Five years after the conference, he also played an important role in the foundation of the Antwerp Geographical Society and became its first secretary. Thanks to Génard not only the archives of the conference, but also some crucial records from the first decades of the Society ended up in the Antwerp City Archives (FelixArchief). These records have now been properly described in the online catalogue and made available for research.
    From 1876 until the 1970s the Royal Antwerp Geographical Society (KAGA) invited explorers, geographers and other scientists to give lectures and presentations on their discovery and view of the world. Some famous names from its history are Adrien de Gerlache, Roald Amundsen, Marshall Lyautey, Ernest Shackleton and Paul Otlet.
    Over time, however, the KAGA's activities and organisation dwindled, causing in the mid 1990s the Antwerp University Library to adopt KAGA library, which consisted of a collection of journals, maps, atlases, and books, including some valuable old prints. Finally, when the society ceased its regular activities some years ago, the University Library also obtained its archives, which were registered in a specially developed archival module of the library's catalogue system (2012-2014).
    The completion of this project now allows to paint a better picture of the organization’s history, its numerous activities and fascinating collection of books, maps, documents and objects. In July 2015 the full archival catalogue will be made openly accessible. A web exposition featuring the most prominent figures and objects of the first conference (1871) and the society will be launched under the title: Geographical Initiatives in Antwerp: the Tale of the Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp (1871-1970). This co-operation between the University Library and the FelixArchief thus aims not only to present the glorious past of this society, but also to make it available for current research and study.

    Posted on

    The Washington Map Society is pleased to announce that David Fedman, a PhD. candidate in history at Stanford University, has been selected as the winner of the 2014 Ristow Prize in the history of cartography. His paper, entitled 'Mapping Armageddon The Cartography of Ruin in Occupied Japan' will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Portolan. Anouk Vermeulen, a PhD. candidate in the School of Classics at St. Andrews University in Scotland, received Honorable Mention for her essay 'Landscapes in Stone and Bronze: A New Interpretatin of Four Monumental Formae'.
    The 2015 competition for the Ristow Prize is now open for applicants. Full- or part-time undergraduate, graduate, or first-year postgraduate students attending any accredited college or university worldwide are eligible to submit papers. Submissions are due 1 June 2015, and should be sent to Dr. Evelyn Edson, 268 Springtree Lane, Scottsville, VA 24590, U.S.A.
    Visit the Washington Map Society home page: http://www.washmapsociety.org, and click on 'Ristow Prize' or send inquiries to eedson@pvcc.edu.

    Posted on