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Antique Maps

Antique Maps are one of those very cool things you can collect, for me they seem different than collecting antique furniture since furniture will not tell you a story.
Artwork is fine but still, it doesn’t tell you a story about one period in time, maps were scientific and culturally accepted during their time which is interesting because you can get a glimpse about how people feel during that period in time. Antique maps are often used as a basis during their time and were considered vital parts of wars, explorations and knowledge of the world in general. Antique Maps before 1550 were made from wooden blooks and were later improved to incised copper plates, which in turn is used to print into old stable paper or rags. After 1850 Maps were mass produced by printing and used wood pulp whiche were more brittle and easily crack.

 
 Europe’s Fascination With Maps

In Europe during the Renaissance and Rediscovery of Classical Art Maps suddenly became important again and expeditions were ordered. The discovery of America and their efforts to conquered it revived their interest in a more scientific and accurate mapping method. They toiled to allow their people to gain access on information about the other areas of the world like, North America, Brazil and even India, while people in these places were to remain ignorant and thus lead to their ability to conquer and create colonies during the 15th-18th century. Map Designs are also interesting because they reflect a certain period in time. As stated above, anything made before 1550 was made of wooden blocks and placed into paper and between 1550-1850 Maps are made through copper plates written on paper, but the paper after the locations have been printed is usually hand-colored. Important maps were usually colored by artisans or sometimes given to ladies of the court to practice on. Until this day, dealers today employ modern colorists to restore old maps.
 
Designs and their Time

Designs are common and often tell about the age of the maps. Sea Monsters and Large Lettering was the sign of 16th century, 17th Century maps were designed with large ships and 1800’s and beyond were mark with a lot of lines and names of the different parts of the sea.
Famous cartographers were usually the authors of these antique maps. As you learn more about maps, you can readily recognize maps by Munster, Ortelius, Leau, Speed, DeLisle, and Moll to name just a few. American mapmakers also enjoy fame, especially Lucas, Carey, Tanner, Mitchell, Colton, Johnson and certainly others.



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