The Map That Got Away: A 1632 French Map of Madeira, Portugal

Recently, I was in Funchal, on the Island of Madeira, Portugal, for work. I had limited free time, but hoped to buy a map of the place if I could find one. The bit of research I did was unable to give me any clues on where I may be able to find an antique map of the place, so on a whim, I stopped in at a shop catering to coin and stamp collectors to see if they may be able to help point me in the right direction.

The owner of the shop didn't have any encouraging news for me, but I noticed, on the wall in a corner of his shop, he did have a couple of maps, one appeared to be a Bellin. When I told him I wanted a local map, he went round to the back and after a few minutes, produced this.

I was pretty excited. It was listed as selling for 170 Euro, but the man in the shop told me he'd accept less if I paid cash (which I didn't have on me in any case).

I asked him if I could take a closer look at the map, which was in matting, and that's when the red flags started popping up. The map did look authentic and original. It was very clean, but the grain of the paper seemed authentic, there was no colour and it seemed right.

When I wanted to see the reverse, however, I realized that it was glued to the backing. That worried me. The owner, to my horror, started trying to pull the map loose from the glue. I was terrified it would tear. It didn't, but he was able to peel enough of it away that I could see a date on it, 1632.

Knowing that I couldn't buy it at that moment anyway, I went back to work and resolved to research it a bit. I came up empty handed. I couldn't find an image of this map, or even one similar to it anywhere. I knew it was probably French, had an approximate year but knew nothing more. So, I turned to twitter.

#antique #map lovers. I need some help. I'm in #Madeira & found this. It's glued to the matting (red flag?), but I was able to see the verso said "circa 1632". Anyone know anything about it/what it may be worth? Any advice on it? looks original and good quality. Thanks in advance pic.twitter.com/CtBaylLUh9

— Cory (@MyMappyPlace) May 23, 2018

It took some time, but I got a few helping hands from the twitterverse, and one, particularly helpful reply from the very helpful New York Public Library Map Division. I have no idea how they did this, but they found the origin of this map.

#antique #map lovers. I need some help. I'm in #Madeira & found this. It's glued to the matting (red flag?), but I was able to see the verso said "circa 1632". Anyone know anything about it/what it may be worth? Any advice on it? looks original and good quality. Thanks in advance pic.twitter.com/CtBaylLUh9

— Cory (@MyMappyPlace) May 23, 2018

Here's a digitized copy (of a microfilmed version) from Bibliothèque nationale de France, look for page 215:https://t.co/p9cpk6GHvV

— NYPL Map Division (@NYPLMaps) May 25, 2018

Incredible! They were right! There it was, on page 215 of the microfilm was the map from the store. It even confirmed another concern I had, that there was nothing printed on the reverse of this map. That's because it was on the last page of a chapter in an atlas, and page 216 was blank with a new section beginning on page 217.

My next concern, however, was the glue. My concerns were confirmed by NYPL Maps and also James Roy, who wrote:

The glue is bad news. It looks awfully clean - I'd certainly want to see the back to see what kind of restoration might be going on.

— James W. Roy (@Mapwallah) May 31, 2018

I was aware of all these concerns, but I thought, I like the map enough, that even if there are some concerns with it, if I can get it for a good price, it will be worth it.

It's a great looking piece, the ships, the perspective, the way the towns are drawn and the age of the map itself were all so appealing I couldn't believe my luck to have found it.

The problem was, the store had limited hours and I was extremely busy with work. I sent the owner an e-mail to see if I could convince him to stay open a bit longer, or to meet me on a day when he was closed, but the e-mail bounced back. Alas, I had to leave the island without a map.

So, I may have been saved by circumstances from buying a forgery or a map whose quality was greatly compromised by glue. I also learned there are some people out there on twitter who really know their maps and are very generous with their time and information. Still though, I can't help but feel that this one got away from me. I guess I will need to add a map of Madeira to my virtual wish-list!

The Mystery of the Turkish Map: Solved

  

As an amateur map collector, I find that sometimes my acquisitions can be hit or miss. Sometimes I buy something and it turns out I make a great purchase from someone who may not realize exactly how good an item they're selling, and sometimes I pay too much for something I think is beautiful, but is not really an item of any value other than the aesthetic.

I wrote here about my second ever map purchase. It was this beauty:

I explained a bit about how I came to doubt its authenticity as an antique, and how I could not find anything else like it anywhere. It turns out, not only was I right to doubt it's age, but I should have questioned whether or not it was truly a map, or meant as one.

When I originally posted about this map, I tweeted about it to my followers and hoped that someone could have some insight for me. I dug a bit deeper after a commentor on the blog suggested I try reaching out to Turkish diplomatic missions, which I did. This turned out to be an excellent suggestion.

In a triumph of digital diplomacy, the Turkish Embassy in Dublin responded relativley quickly. I'll reproduce their helpful reply.

1. Dear Mr. Cory, It’s a map of Istanbul & theBosphorus with a portrait of what looks like Sultan Mehmed IV(1648-1687) the letters are what seem to be or resemble old Ottoman Turkish alphabet but a colleague who is familiar with the old alphabet said some letters didn’t+

— TurkishEmbassyDublin (@TC_Dublin) January 10, 2018

2.+look accurate, so hard to tell details. Perhaps the admins of these2 sites may be able to help as they have many similar images. https://t.co/kKBsFHDrIa & https://t.co/50rsnRYywk

— TurkishEmbassyDublin (@TC_Dublin) January 10, 2018

So right away, I received more information on my map than I had ever had. I knew the name of the man in the image on the map and learned that not only might the map be new, but that the language may not be right. I reached out to the two twitter accounts the Embassy suggested and heard back, fairly quickly from the very friendly person behind @JourneyHistory.

He responded that the map, wasn't really a map, was a modern miniature painting, made to look like it was in the Ottoman style, and on paper that was probably distressed, to make it look old. He sent me a link to dozens of images, none of which are maps, but many of which have a strong stylistic resemblance to my piece. 

For example:



What's more, I was told that the writing on the artwork may actually be complete gibberish. Essentially, the equivalent of mashing the keys on your keyboard and putting whatever comes out into fancy calligraphy. His theory being that not many people read that language any longer, and that the artists making these images probably even less so.

Another helpful commentor on my blog, the helpful and friendly Halim, suggested that it's possible that the writing on the map is another language transliterated, maybe Italian or Ladino. Ladino, or Judaeo-Spanish would be especially interesting, given that it was a language spoken primarily by Jews in the Ottoman Empire. A group that would not ever have represented a majority, and also strange for a modern artist to use.

So, thanks to this blog, the powers of the internet and what I believe is a human inclination to bend towards kindness and helpfulness, I have an answer to my own, personal map mystery: My map is not a map, it's basically just a painting, and it is not old, nor is the paper it's on likely to be. That said, it remains on my wall because it's beautiful, and it now comes with an even better story.