Three Things: Great Lakes Map Edition
What? A Three Things post on a Wednesday?! It has been a fairly unorthodox past few days for us here at Hazel & Wren (more on that next week), but today I’m delighted to bring a very special Three Things edition, curated by our friend over at the Minnesota Historical Society, Pat Coleman.
This Saturday at 2:00 pm, you’ll find Pat at the Twin Cities Antiquarian & Rare Book Fair (located at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds) sharing Midwest map gems and wisdom during the age of exploration. Today, he’s giving us a sneak peek at three such maps.
Writers, crack open those notebooks (or word docs) and write some words on the Great Lakes. Or maps. Or exploration. Or all of the above! And then head over to the Book Fair this weekend (details below) for some in-person inspiration.
Nicholas Sanson, “Le Canada, ou Nouvelle France…” 1656.
Says Coleman: The Sanson map was the first to show the existence of five Great Lakes. Note that Superior and Michigan are open ended to the west and south since it was still unclear where and how far the body of water extended.
Vincenzo Coronelli, “Partie Occidentale du Canada…” 1688.
Says Coleman: Thirty-two years after Sanson, thanks to information from explorers such as Father Hennepin, French cartographers knew with a high degree of accuracy what the Great Lakes looked like. The source of the Mississippi River was still pure conjecture.
Jacques Nicolas Bellin, “Partie Occidentale de la Nouvelle France…” 1755.
Says Coleman: By the mid-18th century, there were few secrets about the geography of the Great Lakes, so a fabulous French map maker, Bellin, made a few things up. For the next one hundred years these fictional islands in Superior appear on maps.
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The 23rd Annual Twin Cities Antiquarian & Rare Book Fair 2013
Progress Center, Minnesota State Fairgrounds
Friday, June 28 3 pm–8 pm
Saturday, June 29 10 am–4 pm
$7 Opening Night, $5 Saturday, free parking
Maps make my heart go pitter-patter. Old ones make me go weak in the knees. I don’t have a great explanation for it, but a map is just one of those things that sets my design-eye wide with admiration, and my imagination running wild with stories and ideas.
Today I’ve got three maps for you, courtesy of the magnificent David Rumsey Map Collection (map lovers, take note).
Joseph Nicolas de L’Isle, Mappa Generalis Totius Imperii Russici, 1745. From the First Atlas of Russia, published by Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia. Full map here.
John Thomson and D. McKenzie, A Comparative View of the Heights of the Principal Mountains of Scotland, 1832. Published by John Thomson & Co., Edinburgh. Full map here.
Ignace Gaston Pardies, Star Map Plate 2: Cetus, Aquarius, Andromeda. etc, 1693. Paris. Details here.
Psst: February’s online Open Mic is this week! Submit your work-in-progress prose or poetry piece today and tomorrow, and get feedback from your fellow writers on Wednesday for a 24-hour feedback frenzy!
After four days of conferencing with 10,000 writers, I think it’s time for a moment of quiet reflection, no? Since the next full moon is this week (early Thursday morning), let’s gaze in its general direction, and conjure up some peace. Or romance. Or were-beasts. Or sci-fi lunar missions.
You know, whatever strikes your fancy. (Here are three moons to get you started.)
James Turrell, Untitled, 1999. Photograph: gravure, aquatint, photolithograph. Brooklyn Museum, New York.
William S. Rice, Marsh Moon, circa 1925. Woodcut on rice paper. Private collection.
Bilderbuch für kinder (Moon Map), 18th century.
