Old Charts See Use

WITH THE CREATION at Dartmouth College of a separate department of geography, the interest in Baker Library's collection of maps and their use by students has increased.

Rarest and most valuable maps in Baker Library collection are the Atlantic Neptune and the Portolan Charts. These are early sailing charts. The first is a collection of charts of the Atlantic coast made at the end of the 18th century and containing drawings of towns and landmarks. These were acquired four or five years ago and are valued at about $2,000. The Portolan Chart is a 17th Century sailing chart of the Mediterranean mounted on oak boards for use at sea.

In making a collection of atlases Dartmouth College was able to acquire a Ptolemy Atlas of the year 1513 which is worth several hundred dollars. The map room also contains a Dutch Atlas in several volumes known as the Blaeu Atlas. These maps are hand colored and are works of art as are many of the early maps.

The library possesses an outstanding collection of New Hampshire maps from the earliest specimens to those of the present day which might be of interest and a very complete collection of historical maps of Grafton County. Included in the several thousand maps on file is the one dating from 1513 and a fairly complete collection of the International Maps, a world mapmaking project which is still underway.

Earliest of the historical maps of New Hampshire is the Blanchard and Langdon map of the province published in 1761, on which in the general region of the White Mountains one finds the comment, "The white hills appear many leagues off at sea like great bright clouds above the horizon and are a noted landmark to seamen."

Along in the nineteenth century the building of railroads played a part in the making of the first accurate maps of this region. Later, Professor Quimby of Dartmouth worked on the geodetical survey maps of the New England area, and about 1878, Professor Hitchcock of the Dartmouth faculty helped in the making of more detailed maps. A series of county maps of New Hampshire were made previous to the geodetical survey and distances were measured by horse and buggy with a cyclometer attached.