The Brussels Map Circle
Home → News

News

After the success of the GB1900 project, capturing place names and written content from the Ordnance Survey’s 6-inch to the mile maps from 1888-1913, The National Library of Scotland is planning three new collaborative transcription projects in 2022 for people to participate in data gathering:
  • Ordnance Survey Edinburgh 25-inch Transcription Project;
  • Scotways Historic Footpaths Project;
  • Roy Military Survey of Scotland Placenames Project.
Read more.

Posted on

On Monday 13 December 2021, the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography has organised a workshop, preceding the International Cartographic Conference in Florence. The workshop featured six papers which were originally intended to be part of the postponed 2020 Symposium in Istanbul on Mapping the Ottoman Realm: Travelers, Cartographers and Archaeologists.
The full programme and abstracts are here: https://www.icc2021.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/PreConf_HistoryOfCartographyagg.pdf.
Among these, we find a communication from Wouter Bracke, President of the Brussels Map Circle, entitled From the Atlas de l’Europe by Philippe Vandermaelen (1828–1833) to the Weiss Map by Thomas Best Jervis (1854). The Role of the Établissement géographique de Bruxelles in the Map Production of European Turkey. The full text is available here.

Posted on

Private collectors John Steegh and Harrie Teunissen from Dordrecht have donated their entire collection of maps, city plans and atlases to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). In almost 40 years they brought together circa 17 000 map sheets and 2 300 atlases and travel guides. Especially the thematic maps from the 19th and 20th centuries can be considered as an important addition to the map collections of UBL. Although Steegh and Teunissen don’t live in Leiden anymore, they still feel strongly connected to the city and its university.
Harrie Teunissen, one of the donors, is Member of the Brussels Map Circle. Martijn Storms, curator Maps & Atlases at the Leiden University Libraries, is also Member of the Circle.
Source: Universiteit Leiden

Posted on

This book, published in both French and Dutch, visualises the history of Belgium with the help of one hundred remarkable old maps. From Ortelius' map of the Netherlands in Roman times to the official map of the linguistic borders of 1964, they all shed unique light on the past. They reveal the changes that have taken place over the centuries and the elements that have escaped the influence of time.
Among the authors, we find Philippe De Maeyer, Michèle Galand, Bram Vannieuwenhuyze, Guy Vanthemsche, Karen De Coene, Marguerite Sylvestre, Peter Van der Krogt some of them are Members of the Brussels Map Circle.
407 pages, 350 ⨯ 290 mm, published on 2 November 2021, EAN 9782390251736 (fr), 9789401476126 (nl), Publishers: Racine (fr), Lannoo (nl)
The links below offer the possibility to leaf through several pages of the book:

Posted on

The History of Cartography series brings together cutting-edge research and a colourful collection of stories and histories told through maps. As a research, editorial and publishing venture, the project is drawing international attention to the history of maps and mapping. It treats all maps — from prehistory through the twentieth century — as cultural, technical and intellectual artifacts.
The final volume — Volume 5, Cartography in the Nineteenth Century — will soon be completed thanks to USD 350 000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities recently awarded to the project.
The project, published by The University of Chicago Press, comprises an interpretive encyclopedia of 409 entries written by 193 contributors. Volumes 1 through 4, as well as 6, have been completed and now the project team is focused on the final tome. The full series will eventually be made available in both print and digital forms.
Source: https://news.wisc.edu/40-year-map-project-history-of-cartography-draws-to-a-close/

Posted on

A world map drawn by the famous Ottoman admiral, cartographer and sailor Piri Reis in 1513 has been put on display once again at Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace after a long break. The map on display is among the most important and interesting artifacts that have survived from the age of discoveries. The visitors’ interest in the exhibition is reported to be quite intense.
Source: Hürriyet Daily News website, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/piri-reis-world-map-on-display-at-topkapi-palace-169485

Posted on

In 2020, the worldwide pandemic forced a late cancellation of the symposium. As an alternative, authors of accepted presentations were encouraged to submit full papers on their work for publication in an open access proceedings volume, which can be found here: https://www.proc-int-cartogr-assoc.net/3/. The volume also contains a preface by commission chair Imre Demhardt, with the full story on the course the symposium took from spring 2020 to the summer of 2021.

Posted on

The Symposium offered the opportunity to meet again in person, at the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), to participate in a four-day programme of lectures by talented speakers, and special visits to museums and map rooms.
It was a great challenge to organise this international conference in these complicated times; it was taken up by an enthusiastic organising committee which concocted an entertaining programme mainly focused on Belgium.
The dedicated web site of the 38th IMCoS International Symposium is still accessible here. Do not miss the gallery.
For the record, here are the links to the lectures broadcast: The 39th Symposium is already on track. The University of Texas will welcome us in 2022.
[Updated on 30 October 2021]

Posted on

As part of the SEPAC organisation’s 2021 joint issue of stamps on the theme of Historical Maps, POST Philately is depicting the oldest, precise map of the city of Luxembourg drawn by Jacob van Deventer in the sixteenth century. He created this important document shortly after 1559 on the orders of King Philip II of Spain.

Read more.

Posted on