Facsimile of four portolan atlases at the Malta Map Society

The Malta Map Society (MMS) has produced a facsimile of four portolan atlases of the eighteenth-century Maltese captain, Antonio Borg, which are found at the British Library, Mss 13957-13960. This facsimile, consisting of four bound volumes in leather, will be deposited at the National Library of Malta for the benefit of all Maltese scholars. An official ceremony will be held on 30 November 2022 at 18.00 h in the presence of the Minister for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, the Hon. Dr Owen Bonnici.
On the invitation of the Malta Map Society, Mr Hans D. Kok, a Dutch expert in historical cartography, a collector, a writer and co-author of a number of standard works on the vellum charts of the Dutch East India Company will be giving a talk to MMS members and friends, entitled Is it a sea chart?. He will be shedding light on what qualifies a map as a sea chart.
Following this talk, there will be the presentation of the bound volumes to the National Library. For the occasion, the Malta Map Society has put up an exhibition of some of the more important documents found in the portolan atlases.

Posted on 20 November 2022