• 1. Personal News
• 2. Conferences and Meetings
• 3. Institutional and General News
• 4. Exhibitions
• 5. Notable Acquisitions
• Bibliography
• Book Reviews

tony(at)tonycampbell.info [NB. You need to change (at) to @ ]

Dear National Representative or Contributor

As the Compiler of Chronicle, I write to you at this time each year. Although Imago Mundi now appears in two, half-yearly issues, Chronicle is included just in the second part (published in July).

It may be helpful if I repeat here the explanatory comments I have sent out in the past. To save you submitting material that has to be excluded, I state clearly below what Chronicle does or does not include. The most important point is that it is not an account of individuals' activities over the past year but a formal review under a set of headings.

Each of Chronicle’s six sections is concerned with the history of cartography (the study of earlier maps for their own sake), not historical geography (extracting information from earlier maps for other purposes), map librarianship or other related subject. There is no cut-off date for the ‘history’ of cartography; history begins yesterday. The important point is that everything should concern maps that are no longer current. The other general principle to remember is that IM’s readership is international, thus information which is of only local interest would not be relevant. The sample entries given below for each section indicate the type and amount of information that can usually be included in the limited space available.

Two general points:

• Please spell out all abbreviations in full
• Please provide titles in your own language (with a translation when that would be helpful)

The various sections of Chronicle are arranged as follows:

1. PERSONAL NEWS

This includes: deaths, appointments, retirements, prizes and awards, research fellowships, and the award of doctorates. The individuals concerned should have made a personal contribution to the subject, not just as administrators. There is not sufficient space to include lectures and talks. Information about Festschriften, if relevant to the history of cartography, should be sent, please, to the compilers of the Bibliography (see below).

     N.B. If somebody who has made a notable contribution to the history of cartography dies, please inform me [tony(at)tonycampbell.info] immediately, in case it might be appropriate for an obituary of them to be prepared for inclusion in the journal.

samples
Olga Kudrnovská, Czech historian of the cartography of Bohemia and Austria, died on 13 March 2003, aged 85. Obituary in Kartographische Nachrichten 53 (2003), Heft 5, pp.241–42.

Willem Mörzer Bruyns was succeeded as curator of navigation (including cartography) and the library collection of the Netherlands Maritime Museum, Amsterdam, by Diederik Wildeman on 1 January 2003 (though he will remain at the museum as a research curator until May 2005).

Prizes & Awards: Robert D. Lukens, a graduate student in United States History at Temple University in Philadelphia, won the Society for the History of Discoveries Essay Prize for ‘Finding themselves in the Arctic: Samuel J. Entrikin and the Peary Expedition of 1893-1895’.

Research Fellowships: Xiaocong Li, Peking University was awarded a three-month Library of Congress Kluge Fellowship (2004-2005) to study their early maps of China.

Doctorates and higher degrees (recent): Gabriele Recker, Bonn University, 2003. ‘Von Trier nach Köln 1550-1850. Kartographiehistorische Beiträge zur historisch-geographischen Verkehrswegeforschung. Betrachtungen zum Problem der Altkarten als Quelle anhand eines Fallbeispieles aus den Rheinlanden’. [Rahden: Marie Leidorf, 2003 (ISBN: 3-89646-025-0)]. [See a cumulative listing of doctorates already recorded].
      Please also tell me about anybody working towards a doctorate, so that I can add their name to the listing of Doctorates in progress, or ask them to send me their details. Thank you.

2. CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

It is helpful if a notice of the meeting is sent to the Compiler. Please include a note about any plans to publish the proceedings. The names of organisations should be given, please, in the original language. There is not sufficient space to include individual talks, courses, or university lecture series. When this is not obvious, please explain why the meeting is relevant for map historians.

samples
Amsterdam, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, autumn meeting of the Werkgroep voor de Geschiedenis van de Kartografie, Nederlandse Vereniging voor Kartografie, ‘Indische Kartografie’ [Cartography of the former Dutch East-Indies], organized in cooperation with the Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, 5 November 2003.

Cambridge (Mass.) and Portland (Maine), organized by the Harvard Map Collection and the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine, in collaboration with Imago Mundi Ltd., 20th International Conference on the History of Cartography, 15-20 June 2003. [For report, see Imago Mundi 56:1 (2004): 87-93.]

3. INSTITUTIONAL AND GENERAL NEWS

Anything of interest to an international readership can be submitted for this section, such as news of the formation of new institutions or changes of address; preparation or automation of a catalogue of an institution’s holdings; other interesting projects; the formation of a new society; a new journal, map thefts, etc.

Please send details of map collections that have been digitised and placed online. However, those will be included instead on the classified 'Map History' site.

samples
Bibliographia Cartographica. A cumulated author index has been published, edited by Wolfgang Crom: Bibliographia Cartographica: Internationale Dokumentation des kartographischen Schrifttums: kumuliertes Autorenregister 1 (1974)–29 (2002) (Munich: Saur, 2004), ISBN 3-598-20647-X.

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center. The Center, at the Boston Public Library, opened on 8 October 2003, ‘to preserve, catalog, study and exhibit the BPL’s historically significant collection of 350,000 maps. These include European, world maps and atlases, as well as American maps focusing on New England, Massachusetts and Boston, from the 15th century to the present’.

Switzerland. (1) The Swiss Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo) and ten other Swiss libraries have begun to scan the ‘Siegfriedkarte’ (the former National Map series) involving about 4000 different sheets/editions (see Cartographica Helvetica 28 (2003): 50). (2) The Bernese Section of the Swiss Alpine Club deposited its map collection at the Schweizerischen Alpinen Museum (the books are now at the Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Bern).

Theft. The Biblioteca Nacional of Argentina reported in July 2003 that it had suffered the theft of more than 120 maps dating from the 16th to 18th centuries. See an article, in Spanish, from the Buenos Aires La Nacion newspaper, reproduced on the archive of the ExLibris list < http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/2003/07/msg00045.html >. The ExLibris list is a good place to look for information about rare book and map thefts.

4. EXHIBITIONS

Please list only those exhibitions in which maps play an important part, and where the items are originals, not reproductions. If this is not obvious, please explain why the exhibition is relevant for map historians. Virtual exhibitions are not generally included but please send the details, for inclusion in the appropriate place on the classfied 'Map History' site.

Entries in the Chronicle are listed under the place in which the exhibition was held, so please make sure the town is clearly named.

Once the exhibition has closed, the most important feature will be its catalogue. Please provide details of any accompanying catalogue (e.g. author’s name(s), number of pages, whether it is illustrated, and its ISBN), as well as relevant web addresses (URLs).

samples
Copenhagen, Royal Library, 25 April-27 August 2003. ‘Danmark på verdenskortet’ [Denmark on the world map]. <http://www.kb.dk/kb/dept/nbo/kob/danmarkskort/forsideramme.htm >.

Leiden, University Library, 4 September-6 October 2003. ‘Balkan in kaart: Vijf eeuwen strijd om identiteit’ [Mapping the Balkans: five centuries of struggle for identity], showing maps from the private collections of Harrie Theunissen and John Steegh. Catalogue in the series ‘Kleine publicaties van de Leidse Universiteitsbibliotheek’ 55 (ISSN 0921-9293, vol. 55), accompanied the exhibition.

New Orleans, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center, 1 June-31 December 2003. ‘Charting Louisiana: five hundred years of maps’. Catalogue, edited by John R. Hébert (430 pp., ills). ISBN 0-917860-47-0.

Exhibition dates. Those that extend into a second year will be listed just once in 'Chronicle', under their opening date.

5. NOTABLE ACQUISITIONS

This section features only collections, manuscript material, and rare, significant or bibliographically important printed atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc. Maps removed from volumes are not included. Please include with every entry a compilation/publication date (even if approximate), a size if it is large, a diameter if a globe, and, wherever possible, a very short note explaining why the item is important.

samples
Carta geographica que comprende los Rios de la Plata, Parana, Uruguay y Grande y los terreno adyacentes. London: G. & J. Cary, 1827. [Hitherto unrecorded London reprint of a Spanish map.]

‘Plan de la route de Paris en Bretagne par Dreux et Allençon’. MS, c.1770. [90 maps showing the route from Paris to Brittany, probably compiled by a French military engineer.]

Poole Brothers. [Record book of copyrights. MS. Chicago, 1897-1952.] [Poole Bros were important Chicago printers, primarily of railroad material. Many of the entries are for maps printed by means of the wax-engraving process.]

Zimmermann, Eberhard August Wilhelm von. Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüssigen Thiere. Leipzig, 1778-1783. [With an early zoological map of the world.]

6. UNUSUAL ITEMS THAT HAVE COME UP FOR SALE

This section was discontinued in 2021.

Finally, there are two other ways in which we would value your help:

1. Bibliography. The Bibliographers are: Colin Dupont (Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Brussels) and Mylynka Cardona (Texas A&M University-Commerce).

The bi-annual Bibliography is fully international and the most extensive record of publications in the subject. To achieve this, it depends to a considerable extent on the contributions from the National Representatives.

We would therefore be grateful for a note of all relevant books and articles recently published in or about your country or region, or in your language. This includes facsimiles, but only when accompanied by substantial text. It is essential that information is given accurately and in full. It would be most helpful if you would provide an English translation of foreign-language titles.

The relevant addresses are: colin.dupont(at)kbr.be AND Mylynka.Cardona(at)tamuc.edu

2. Book Reviews. In parallel with the Bibliography, the reviews are an essential part of the documentation of the history of cartography. The Editors would be grateful if you can arrange for copies of relevant publications produced in your country or region to be sent for review as follows:

• Books published in the Americas, Australasia and the Orient:
  Raymond B. Craib, Book Reviews Editor, Imago Mundi

  Email: rbc23(at)cornell.edu

• Books published in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East:
  Dr Thomas Horst, Book Reviews Editor, Imago Mundi

  Email: thomashorst(at)gmx.net

Thank you once again for all your help in the past and continued help in the future. Please email me if you have any questions.

Best wishes

Tony Campbell
Compiler of ‘Chronicle’
76 Ockendon Road
London N1 3NW
UK

tony(at)tonycampbell.info