What's New - Page 8

Map of the Italian island of Sicily from the turn of the twentieth century showing numerous major and minor roads and towns. The seven provinces of that time are indicated by different colors, and the coats of arms of each province are included.

Early 20th-century map of East Africa, covering the region from present-day northern Tanzania north to Egypt, and west to parts of Libya and the Congo. Countries included in full are: Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda. Boundaries on the map indicate the colonial boundaries of the early 20th-century, as well as the free state of Abyssinia (Ethiopian Empire). Includes an inset map in the lower right of the area around the Suez Canal.

We've added three new eighteenth-century maps of Switzerland. All three maps show the thirteen cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy (there are now twenty-six). The maps also show "allies" and "subjects" of the confederacy, regions that later joined the confederacy and are now part of Switzerland.

Covers all of present-day South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, and includes parts of southern Namibia and Botswana. The present-day province of Transvaal (including Johannesburg) is shown in its 19th century form as the independent South African Republic, and Lesotho is shown as Orange Free State. Numerous towns and provinces are indicated, as well as several rail lines.

Published by Matthew Clarkson and Mary Biddle, this detailed map of Philadelphia from the mid 18th-century includes an index in the upper right to various places of interest (including libraries, churches, hospitals, etc). Two insets in the upper left show two plans of Philadelphia based on surveys of Thomas Holmes and Benjamin Eastburn. All the wharves along the Delaware River are labeled, and the decorative cartouche in the lower left includes a dedication "To the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, Common Council and Freemen of Philadelphia."

The Library of Congress recently held a conference about the origins and accuracy of Portolan Charts, medieval sailing maps that are remarkably accurate considering they were made without any real cartographic technology. John Hessler, mathematician and librarian at the Library of Congress, has been modeling the coastlines on the maps to discover the secrets of the medieval mapmakers.

Read more about it at the Washington Post.

Covers the southern tip of Manhattan, and shows the locations of the various wards of the city. Includes an index to over forty places of interest in the lower right. Among these are a number of religious houses of worship, showing the religious diversity of the city, including meeting places for Quakers, Lutherans, Catholics, Moravians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Jews (the Mill Street location of America's first synagogue is included). The map also contains a ornamented dedication to James De Lancey, Lieutenant Governor of New York, on the left side, and a coat of arms in the upper right with the name of the Mayor, Edward Holland.