AROUND HOME : Notes on Old Maps, Garden and Animal Events : Old Cartography

THE ART of the map maker has always appealed to man’s fascination with faraway places. Cartography itself antedates printing--and even the art of writing. Perhaps the oldest known map is a Babylonian clay tablet dating from 2500 B.C., now at Harvard University.

Our current system of cartography was developed by the Greeks, whose work remained unchallenged until the 16th Century. The early map makers had rich imaginations. Only the Mediterranean world was represented with any accuracy; beyond the boundaries known to them, cartographers sketched in dragons, mermaids and all manner of flora and fauna.

After 1500, three events contributed to cartography: the rediscovery and translation into Latin of Ptolemy’s “Geography”; the invention of printing and engraving, and the expeditions to Africa and the New World. This renaissance was seen most clearly in the work of Gerardus Mercator, who created the first modern world atlas (1570). The first important national survey was made in France in 1756; England followed suit in 1801.

The earliest maps are surprisingly inexpensive, though books of maps bring high prices. For example, a Mercator atlas worth more than $300,000 was found recently at a Belgian roadside bookstall. Local shops have had some reasonable treasures--among them a 1752 French map of Europe ($210). At auctions of maps, the price range is wide: an 1844 map of New York ($650); 112 double-page maps published by Abraham Ortelius in 1584 ($20,000); a three-volume atlas, with 367 engraved plates, published in Nuremberg in the 17th Century ($76,000).

By World War II, map making was quite complex, and with computer mapping, developed in the 1960s, the old romance--Neptune with his trident and the Four Winds and the mermaids--has now vanished.

For old maps, check with Heritage Book Shop, Fleur de Lis Antiques, Thomas Bros. Maps, Dailey Rare Books & Fine Prints in Los Angeles; Kenneth Karmiole Bookseller and Morrison & Kline Books in Santa Monica; Dirk Cable in Pasadena; Kenrich Co. in Temple City; Book Sail in Orange; Drew Book Shop in Santa Barbara, and Wahrenbrock’s Book House in San Diego.