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As is explained in the introductory note on the Fakes Menu page, the lack of volunteer assistance with
this project, meant it has had to be simplified. Where there is no available information other than that given in the
bibliographical 'Reference' cited in the Index table, you will need to follow up that source online, or, if it is in printed form,
on your own shelves or in a library.
Those maps or artefacts given entries on this page are more complex (for example suspected fakes of manuscript maps), they have
multiple references, they have not been written up in an accessible place, or they otherwise deserve more comment.
Should a volunteer be tempted to offer their services, the Index table could form the basis for a general catalogue of
cartographic deceptions. The Albarel entry
gives an idea of how a complex entry might be treated.
For the detailed analysis of what is the only forgery, so far identified, made up from elements of different originals, see the detailed analysis by John Woram.
The discovery of a first century B.C. scroll, containing a one-metre long, uncompleted map on papyrus, thought to represent an itinerary map depicting part of Spain, was first mentioned in the 1990s. Although the area depicted has not been identified, it is thought to show roads, rivers and settlements. It was exhibited in Turin at the Palazzo Bricherasio in 2006 (with the catalogue issued by Electa in Milan). The full official exposition has yet to appear.
In a recent 534-page analysis Professor Canfora has claimed the map to be a fake, and specificially that it is the work of the noted mid-19th-century counterfeiter Constantine Simonides. This view is contested.
References:
Peter Parsons, 'Forging ahead: Has Simonides struck again?', Times Literary Supplement (22 February 2008), p.14.
Luciano Canfora, Il papiro di Artemidoro (Rome/Bari: Editori Laterza, 2008).
Le tre vite del Papiro di Artemidoro. Voci e sguardi dall’Egitto greco-romano (Milan: Electa, 2006).
Barbel Kramer, 'The Earliest Known Map of Spain (?) and the Geography of Artemidorus of Ephesus on Papyrus', Imago Mundi 53 (2001), pp. 115-120. [Private subscribers to Imago Mundi, and those with institutional access, can get that article via JSTOR.]
Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete, 44, 2 (1998, i.e. April 1999).
Joep de Koning to MapHist 13 August 2005:
"Of the 1650 Blaeu stand-alone etching of Nieuw Amsterdam, on exclusive contemporary
Blaeu paper, usually called by dealers "the Visscher view" because it was incorporated, together with the 1650 Jansson map of
Nieuw Netherland, in the 1651 composite emendata map by Visscher, later copies exist on "old" paper (not Blaeu paper). The paper
is generic and there is a deep impression of a purported plate mark. The authentic Blaeu views were "cuttings" so no deep plate
marks exist. The "forgeries" are not as detailed as the originals because, in the photographic copying process and etching, the
definition of the lines suffered so that in the darker shadow portions the ink clotted. Because of the immense interest about the
New Netherland period in the early twentieth-century and the already wide use of photography, the forgeries could be from that
time."
Daniel Strebe reported to MapHist on 18 July 2007 [with follow-up notes to the editor of this page] that he had acquired an example of Willem Jansz. Blaeu, 'Virginiae partis australis, et Floridae partis orientalis, interjacentiumq, regionum Nova Descriptio', with the inscription 'Auctore Guiljelmo Blaeuw. 1660'. The map, which probably first appeared in 1638, the year of Willem Blaeu's death, continued to be used after the Blaeu auction in 1677, appearing in atlases produced by Frederick de Wit and Christopher Browne (c. 1708). No original impression is recorded with either a signature (let alone the strange claim for authorship of a map for which Blaeu was just the publisher) or a date. The owner thinks, from the condition of the mount, that it must date from some decades ago.
It is not possible to establish the status of this map conclusively without detailed photographic evidence. However, it appears that the map has a wide, false platemark.
Reference:
Philip D. Burden, The Mapping of North America: a List of Printed Maps 1511-1670 (Rickmansworth: Raleigh
Publications, 1996), No. 253, Plate 253.
"Apparently the original copper plate of the left half of the map still exists in Italy, though its location is not known (to me). Twentieth-century restrikes from this plate, printed on old paper, come onto the market at regular intervals, and some have been sold to collectors and institutions as originals." (Dahl p.42).
The restrike will, inevitably, be of the final state. This has the addition of the engraver's name "Gio: fed.co Pesca f." (Giovanni Federico Pesca fecit - a reference to a 17th-century Neapolitan engraver) on the underside of the 'scroll' for the Huronum inset. A Native American canoe has also been added beneath the Mare of Mare Dulce [L. Huron]. As yet, no original impression of this later state of the left hand sheet has been identified.
Originals of the complete two-sheet map are known in the Bibliothčque nationale de France, Paris, and the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. In 2002, Library and Archives Canada acquired the right half of this map.
References:
Louis Cardinal, 'Record of an ideal: Father Francesco Giuseppe Bressani's 1657 map of New France',
The Portolan 61 (Winter 2004-2005): 13-28.
Edward H. Dahl, 'A second Bressani original of New France comes to light', The Map Collector 63 (1993): 42-3 [discussing a 20th century restrike of the left of two sheets of the 1657 map - but with added details], and 'Addendum' [i.e. correction] in The Map Collector 64 (1993): 51 [reproducing the two joined sheets of the original printing, in Vienna].
In January 2006, a Chinese collector, Liu Gang, announced that he had acquired, in 2001, a hand-drawn map that referred to Admiral Zheng He’s expedition in 1418. The Economist (12 January 2006) ran an article, 'An ancient map that strongly suggests Chinese seamen were first round the world', describing it as 'a copy, made in 1763, of a map, dated 1418' [This is now available on subscription.]
There are two issues: the supposed connection with Zheng He, which was seen as tying in with Gavin Menzies's theories about a 1421 discovery of America; and the question of whether the map (supposedly subjected to radiocarbon-dating testing) was a (misinterpreted?) eighteenth-century original or a modern fake.
Both sides of the argument can be accessed via the '1421 exposed' site, which sets out reasoned arguments against the overlapping Menzies and Liu Gang theories.
Doubts have been cast as to whether a number of early globes are in fact later printings, facsimiles, or modern forgeries, created by making up globes from the facsimiles of gores published by the Munich bookseller, Ludwig Rosenthal in the 1880s. The names of Johann Schöner and Georg Hartmann have been mentioned, and one version relates to the globe depicted by Hans Holbein in his painting, 'The Ambassadors'.
References:
A. D. Baynes-Cope, 'The Investigation of a Group of Globes', Imago Mundi 33 (1981): 9-20.
Rodney W. Shirley, The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700 (Holland Press, 1983, and subsequent editions, some with Corrections and Additions) No. 62, Plate 57.
David Allen, in a message to MapHist on 23 August 2006, cites a passage from: Joseph A. Borome, 'An Interview between Justin Winsor and Henry Harrisse', The Hispanic American Historical Review, 32, No. 3 (Aug., 1952), 378.
On globes see also other entries under 'Globe' in the Area column of the Index.
'In a much publicized recent case, an individual consigned a facsimile globe to Christie's, in London, and it was sold at auction as an original'. Francis J. Manasek, 'Facsimiles, Forgeries, and Other Copies', in Collecting Old Maps (Norwich Vt.: Terra Nova Press, 1998):73 (without providing further detail).
'Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica Ac Hydpographica [sic] Tabula (Paris, 1640) [but here in State 3, 1649]. With the addition of the very small lettered imprint along the bottom, tentatively read as: 'Marcel Molinier, 18 rue des Saints Peres Paris'. Another source refers to Molinier as at '32 [rue] des St-Peres, Paris'.
Information from Jeremy Pool, October 2006, who reported three examples of this form, one with 'Arches' watermark, evidently late 19th or early 20th century French. Another report speaks of 'a strange-looking plate mark about ľ inch [2 cm] outside the outer neatline'. The copies are hand-coloured. They have an additional scalloped border, not shown in Shirley's illustration. It is unclear if that is found on the original. The copies should perhaps be classed as facsimiles, although the imprint is so small that some have been deceived.
Reference:
Rodney W. Shirley, The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700 (Holland Press, 1983, and
subsequent editions, some with Corrections and Additions), No. 354, Plate 270.
The so-called Hungarian Vinland Map: a preliminary report. Analyzed by L. Stegena and E. Timár (Eötvös University, Budapest);
with the help of George D. Painter and Peter Hogg (British Museum, London) (Budapest: Department of Cartography, Eötvös
University, 1974). [Paper presented to the 7th Conference, International Cartographic Association, Madrid, April-May 1974.]:
"The so-called Hungarian Vinland map came to light in Hungary in the [nineteen-]sixties, under hardly controllable and rather
queer circumstances. The measurement of the manuscript is 20.5 x 28.5 cm. In all probability both its drawings and text elements
derive from the same hand. The map is evidently a copy, a derivate [!] of the Stefansson or Skaholt or Vinland map (Royal Library,
Kopenhagen, G.K.S.2880, 4o). In proportion to the Skaholt map it contains some new, remarkable elements: the Norman's sea-routes
towards England and the New World, as well as some settlements on the territory of Greenland and North America. Because of these
and the fact, that the map was published many times and on [!] a great number of languages, its analysis is necessary."
Then follow sections/paragraphs on 'Projection', 'Geographical elements', 'The paper of the map', 'The ink of the map', 'The names in the map', 'Cartouche', 'Inscriptions on the edge of the map', and 'Summary'. [From the sci.tech-archive.net, in a post by Doug Weller on 18 April 2005 - the first section above is quoted from the report itself].
Other References:
Erdélyi, F. István, 'Hungary's Vinland map', Acta ethnographica academiae scientiarum Hungaricae, 21
(1972): 347-52 [The Newberry Library note reads: "Describes a manuscript map in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest,
probably made by Jesuits in the old Hungarian (now Czechoslovakian) town of Nagyszombat in 1599"].
Messages to MapHist, January-February 2005, from Kirsten Seaver, James Enterline and Jřrgen D. Siemonsen, combined here.
Zsolt Török to MapHist, 4 June 2007.
Dee Longenbaugh (via MapHist) and Rodney Shirley (privately) report what sound like similar fake maps and charts being offered in the Grand Bazaar (Kapali Carsi or Covered Market) in Istanbul. These were openly on sale as copies, apparently in 1999.
Shirley describes small sea charts for sale, beautifully executed by hand in Turkish script and some coloured with gold, in the style of Piri Re'is's 'Kitab-y-Bahiyre'. Some were on apparently old vellum and some on paper with earlier printed Ottoman text on the verso.
Longenbaugh was told it was common practice to reuse old vellum, draw a map on it, and then coat it with egg white.
David Allen to Maphist 22 June
2006:
'An alleged 1674 map of New France by Jolliet, which is also suspected of being a forgery (according to the Canadian Museum of Civilization). The page does not
give any information about who questioned the Jolliet map or why, but it seems to be closely related to the "Marquette Autograph
Map." The Jolliet map has an unusual appearance for a seventeenth century map, and it was also published in the Jesuit Relations.
Since Jolliet and Marquette were closely associated, this makes me think there may be a link between the two purported forgeries'.
In a private message, David Allen relays the view of Carl Weber (who has investigated the related Marquette map) that the Jolliet map appeared in 1880. On this see Gravier's, Etude sur une carte inconnue, la premičre dressée par Louis Joliet en 1674, aprčs son exploration du Mississipi avec le P. Jacques Marquette en 1673 (Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie., 1880).
For further material on the life and career of Jolliet, see online sources such as the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Wikipedia, etc.
William 'Captain' Kidd (1645-1701). The Wikipedia article mentions hunts for his (presumably mythical) treasure, variously in Nova Scotia, Long Island, Connecticut, Catalina Island (Dominican Republic) and the Japanese Tokara Islands. For information, please refer to the British Library Map Library, which has notes in its 'Public Service Guide' on the map supposedly associated with him, dated 1692 (?), and apparently describing a location in the Pacific.
11 June 2006:
Carl Weber, professor of history and the humanities at DeVry Institute in Chicago, claims that the hand-drawn
Marquette map of 1673, which accurately details the Illinois' curving course, is "a historical fraud". His findings, announced at
the Newberry Library last September, are based on the fact that the map "is too accurate" and contains information about the
Illinois that didn't appear on other early exploration maps until decades later. "The likelihood of Marquette going up the
(Illinois) river with Joliet is very slim." He believes that the map "supposedly discovered in 1844 among documents stored and
virtually forgotten in a Jesuit mission in Canada - was created and forged with Marquette's signature by the Jesuit Order to
strengthen its political position in France and The Vatican." [Editor's summary of an article by Michael Smothers in the
Peoria Journal Star, entitled 'History professor says Marquette map a fraud. Believes sketch couldn't have been made before
1813' - originally at < http://www.pjstar.com/stories/061106/REG_BA246ESI.062.shtml > but since removed to the archive.]
15 October 2006:
A message to the MapHist list from Carl J. Weber draws attention to a range of articles on his website and to the response to his revisionism.
2 November 2006:
The Marquette Map
Isn’t a Hoax?:
"Carl Weber’s thesis that the Marquette Map is a hoax received a rough reception at a history conference
last month: apparently, many historians aren’t buying his claims or his evidence, suggesting that they can be refuted "in about
five minutes." " [With 10 comments attached to that post.]
The 30 cm diameter Nebra sky disk "appeared as if from nowhere on the international antiquities market in 2001. Its seller claimed that it had been looted by illegal treasure hunters with a metal detector in 1999" (Wikipedia). Claims have been made that it is a fake but these seem now to be discounted.
References:
'Die
Himmelsscheibe von Nebra: Einfürung das Universum ist eine Scheibe'
Wikipedia:'Nebra sky disk' - concluding (when seen 23 December 2007) that despite 'initial suspicions that the disk might be an archaeological forgery ... it is now widely accepted as authentic and dated to roughly 1600 BC on grounds of typological classification of the associated finds'.
Ernst Künzl, Himmelsgloben und Sternkarten. Astronomie und Astrologie in Vorzeit und Altertum (Stuttgart: Konrad Theiss Verlag, 2005) [see review by Elly Dekker in Imago Mundi, 58, 1 (2006): 110].
On 4 August 2006 Dorothy Prescott sent an alert to the MapHist list:
"This week I have had
through my hands a very good digital reproduction of the second state of J.B. Nolin's great wall map 'Le Globe Terrestre', 1708.
It is a particularly good copy. It came complete with damaged section upper right hand margin of the map where the paper has
actually been torn off the backing canvas. The map sheets were cut into 36 panels and mounted on canvas which had been treated to
make it appear aged. The edging vignettes, and tables of text found below the two hemispheres in the first state are missing. This
reproduction has a pencilled number in the lower lefthand margin which could identify in which collection the original is."
The map described above, seen in Australia, 'was cut so close to the border that there was no room for a plate mark.' See also other messages via the MapHist archive for August 2006, under the headings 'Nolin fake' and 'Giclee sites'. The map was identified as 'a Giclee reproduction using digital technology', in other words a sophisticated form of ink-jet printing.
The 1708 version is state 2 of the four-sheet world map of 1700.
Reference:
Rodney W. Shirley, The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700 (Holland Press, 1983, and
subsequent editions, some with Corrections and Additions), No. 605, Plate 417.
It is not clear what relationship, if any, there is between the various Ortelius printed forgeries, and the actual copper-plate of America described below. While one person may be responsible for forging different Ortelius maps, it seems clear that more than one person has been involved in this activity.
(A) Forged impression 1 (1570)
The Map Collector reported how the forgery was first spotted in 1980. "It was analysed and photographed using ultra-violet light which appeared to show it to have been printed from a photographically prepared plate and the paper then pressed onto a metal plate to give it a plate mark and so appear to be an engraved map. This plate mark provided the evidence of the map's forgery since the plate used was 1.25 cm wider than that used for the original. The paper used was from early church documents out of which the ink had been bleached. This ink is apparent in the photographs taken under ultra- violet light."
Various other descriptions have been provided of what sounds like the same forgery or deceptive facsimile. The plate mark was much larger than usual (up to 11 mm wide). 'I pointed out that the clincher was that matter of the plate mark on the forgery not matching the bit of a black line that had been left in the original plate mark by ink that had gone over the side of the plate, and that ink then having been picked up photographically for the new image. The new, false plate mark should have been exactly where that bit of ink appeared.' (Dahl, personal communication). Another example was described as printed on what had been 'some kind of ledger paper (an old record book in some town hall?), and the ink was bleached out but could still easily be seen'.
References:
Edward H. Dahl, 'Facsimile maps and forgeries', Archivaria, 10 (Summer 1980): 261-263.
The Map Collector, 13 (1980): 39 ('Around and About').
Carl Moreland and David Bannister, Antique Maps: a collector's handbook (London & New York: Longman, 1983) p.286. Also online version (search for 'Reproductions').
(B) Forged impression 2 ('1574')
With the addition of the forged date 1574, 'hachured shading effect, and colouring'. Three successive plates were used for the map of America, appearing in 1570, 1579 and 1587 respectively. None has an engraved date, see 'Index of Map Plates by Area' on Marcel P.R. van den Broecke's 'Cartographica Neerlandica' site.
References:
Marcel P.R. van den Broecke, Ortelius Atlas Maps: an Illustrated Guide (HES Publishers, 't Goy-Houten, 1996).
Marcel P.R. van den Broecke, 'Unmasking a forgery: recognising a real Ortelius', Mercator's World, 3:3 (May/June 1998): 46-9. ["On recent forgeries of maps 'America sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio' (first plate) and 'Europae' (first plate, 2nd state), that were examined for paper, watermarks, platemarks, addition of dates (1574 and 1573 respectively), hachured shading effect, and colouring" - Francis Herbert's entry for the 'Bibliography' in Imago Mundi 51 (1999) p.194]
(C) Copper-plate (1587) [apparently genuine, though possibly not printed from]
18 June 2005:
[Marcel van den Broecke to MapHist]:
"A fourth Ortelius America copperplate has been found.
"I was recently approached by someone from Paris who said that he owned the copperplate of the third Ortelius map of the Americas [1587], the only one without the bulge in the west coast of South America.
"I went to Paris and examined and photographed a print made in an art shop from this plate, and compared it with my own copies of this map (my number Ort11).
"It turned out to be extremely similar to the standard third Americas map, first state (Ort11.1), but in the longitude scale numbers along the bottom of the map, instead of the standard 260 270 280 it had 260 70 280. Whether Ort11 is a copy of this plate, or whether this plate is a copy of Ort11 is unclear, but the resemblance between this map and the standard map is so close that it is very unlikely to have been made by anyone but Ortelius.
"I would be very interested to know if anyone who has access to original copies of this map can find a similar "mistake", i.e. 70 instead of 270 in the bottom longitude scale, in which case the copperplate just found was actually used in Ortelius' time.
"For a picture of this map see here, which also has a more elaborate text than I can give here. When you click on the (jpg) image, you access a 23MB TIFF file of the map which allows very high magnification."
[See also the follow-up message of 20 June 2005].
30 April 2007:
[Marcel van den Broecke to MapHist]:
"About two years ago I reported a similar case on Maphist concerning Ortelius' third plate of the Americas. I was offered a
copperplate (with photograph of the plate and a photograph of an offprint from that plate) to which I responded that it could not
be the plate used by Ortelius, because it is known to have a second state (with Le Maire Strait on it).
"Meticulous inspection of an offprint from the "new" plate proved that it was a very close copy of the plate that was used for various editions of the Theatrum from 1587 until 1641, but not identical: one place name had a full stop after the area name COGNITA in the plate that was used, but not on the copperplate that was offered to me. Also, the longitude degrees given at the bottom of the map had 260 270 280 on the plate that was used, and 260 70 280 on the plate that was offered to me. More details in Map Forum issue 7 (2005) p. 28-30. Marcel van den Broecke: "Has the Fourth Ortelius America plate ever been used?" The answer is: no.
"Incidentally: this Ortelius Americas copperplate will be up for sale at Christie's Paris, May 15, 2007. Estimated price: Euro 60,000 to 80,000."
With the addition of the forged date 1573, 'hachured shading effect, and colouring'. Two successive plates were used for the map of Europe, appearing in 1570 and 1584 respectively. Neither has an engraved date, see 'Index of Map Plates by Area' on Marcel P.R. van den Broecke's 'Cartographica Neerlandica' site.
Other References:
Marcel P.R. van den Broecke, Ortelius Atlas Maps: an Illustrated Guide (HES Publishers, 't Goy-
Houten, 1996).
Marcel P.R. van den Broecke, 'Unmasking a forgery: recognising a real Ortelius', Mercator's World 3:3 (May/June 1998): 46-9. ["On recent forgeries of maps 'America sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio' (first plate) and 'Europae' (first plate, 2nd state), that were examined for paper, watermarks, platemarks, addition of dates (1574 and 1573 respectively), hachured shading effect, and colouring" - Francis Herbert's entry for the 'Bibliography' in Imago Mundi 51 (1999) p.194]
"In April 2006 I was offered via the internet an Ortelius map of Iceland (Islandia) by someone from Visby in Sweden" (Broecke). This was identified as a forged version of the 1602 Spanish edition. The article below contains good illustrations.
References:
Marcel P.R. van den Broecke, 'Unmasking another forgery of an Ortelius atlas map: Iceland', Journal of the
International Map Collectors' Society, 106 (Autumn 2006) pp. 7-9.
Gróf, Lázló, 'Ortelius forgery?', Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society, 107 (Winter 2006) pp. 32-3 [letter, touching on a number of forgery topics, responding to the above].
Marcel P.R. van den Broecke, 'Last comments on the alleged Ortelius forgery', Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society, 108 (Spring 2007): 50 [responding to Gróf's comments above].
The world map dated 1587, as described on Marcel P.R. van den Broecke's 'Cartographica Neerlandica' site.
References:
Edward H. Dahl, ' Facsimile maps and forgeries', Archivaria 10 (Summer 1980): 261-263.
Carl Moreland and David Bannister, Antique Maps: a collector's handbook (London & New York: Longman, 1983) p.286. Also online version (search for 'Reproductions').
Petrus Plancius - Jan Baptist Vrients world map, 1596
'Orbis Terrae Compendiosa Descriptio', in: J.H. van Linschoten Itinerario, 1596.
Rodney Shirley, in a private communication, describes buying a convincing coloured facsimile about 1990.
Reference:
Rodney W. Shirley, The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700 (Holland Press, 1983, and
subsequent editions, some with Corrections and Additions), No.192, Plate 157.
Robert Morden, The 52 Counties of England and Wales, Geographically described in a pack of Cards [London, 1676]. 54 engraved cards, the printed surface 9.5 x 6 cm.
Alleged forgeries of these were offered through 'several auction houses in England' (reported in 1983). It is thought that facsimiles produced by Harry Margary, Lympne Castle, Kent, had the word 'facsimile' erased from each card, which was then aged by 'browning'.
References:
R.A. Skelton, County Atlases of the British Isles 1579-1703 (Carta Press, 1970) p. 151.
Sylvia Mann & David Kingsley, 'Playing Cards', Map Collectors' Series, No. 87 (London, 1972), plate xviii(d) [British Isles card].
The Map Collector 22 (1983): 38 [editorial note].
Rodney W. Shirley, Printed Maps of the British Isles 1650-1750 (Map Collector Publications and British Library, 1988), p. 95 ('Morden 3').
"The appearance at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries of so many hitherto unknown maps dating between 1509 and 1525, all by unknown cartographers with similar lettering styles, decorative motifs, and geographical configurations, was suspicious".
"There is a remote possibility that Map 1 from the Ayer collection by Fra Bona Harigonio is genuine and that it formed a model for some of the other world maps made by clerics in Venice, supposedly in the early sixteenth century ... However, the general conclusion is that all these maps were made at the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth possibly for modest gain, probably more out of curiosity in the outcome."
A few further general comments can be made. The maps are unusually small, are invariably dated (unlike many proven originals), cover the world and America, at a time when the latter (always the focus of much scholarly and collecting interest) was beginning to reveal its coastlines. Most noticeable is the way that the small format was used to disguise the lack of place-names. Genuine charts, even small ones, would have had large numbers of names. It must have been highly attractive to the forger to avoid what would have been a very time-consuming task.
While some early commentators were in doubt about the maps' status, Wieder and Almagiŕ were convinced they were fakes. These maps have been appearing for over a century, with the last one (privately and confidentially) reported in 2007. It seems likely that more remain.
[Note added March 2008. Since the later issues of The Map Collector were not indexed, the following was not previously cited:
Michael Layland, 'Geographical clues to suspect maps', and Gregory C. McIntosh, 'More about fake maps' - letters in the The Map
Collector, 69 (1994): 52. Each of the two authors itemises cartographic anachronisms on, in all, five of the maps.]
'Maris et terrae hoc est charta marinae; Nova descriptio justa recentium observationibus.Augustinus marinalis..venetiae' [date partly erased; location now unknown - Woodward Map 13].
'Universalis tabula figura mundi-Venetia MDX [location now unknown - Woodward Map 2]. 270 x 190mm. Exhibited at the 6th Italian
Geographical Congress (Venice,1907).
Reference: Roberto Almagiŕ, 'Su un gruppo di mappamondi italiani del secolo XVI', La
Bibliofila, 44 (1942): 274-6.
A map with Damms Antikvariat, Oslo in 1977 (Catalogue 589, No. 98) - see Woodward endnote 13. [The 'Correspondence and photocopies relating to map forgeries', between David Woodward and Claes Nyegaard (proprietor of Damms Antikvariat) in 1977, is described as record # 29129 in the Newberry Library Cartographic Catalog (search for 'Nyegaard')].
Fra Hieronymo Barbolano, 1525 [Newberry Library, Edward E. Ayer Collection MS Map 7 - Woodward Map 12, fig.2]. 333 x 230mm. Entry
in the Newberry Library
Cartographic Catalog.
Reference: Gregory C. McIntosh, 'More about fake maps', The Map Collector, 69 (1994): 52.
Fra Michiel Barbolan, 1514 [location now unknown - Woodward Map 7, fig.4].
References: Geographical Journal 1908;
Roberto Almagiŕ, 'Su un gruppo di mappamondi italiani del secolo XVI', La Bibliofila, 44 (1942): 274.
Dolfin Bonaldo, 1512 [Newberry Library, Edward E. Ayer Collection MS Map 9 - Woodward Map 5, fig.1]. 334 x 232mm. Entry in the
Newberry Library
Cartographic Catalog.
Reference: Gregory C. McIntosh, 'More about fake maps', The Map Collector, 69 (1994): 52.
Dolfin Bonaldo, 1519 [Christies 13 December 1984 Lot 124 (withdrawn) - Woodward Map 10, fig.3]. 475 x 475mm.
Baldo Brunacius, 1516 [Newberry Library, Edward E. Ayer Collection MS Map 6 - Woodward Map 8, fig.9]. 328 x 225mm. Entry in the
Newberry Library
Cartographic Catalog.
Matheo de Chiara de Arimino, 1519 [4-chart atlas, Huntington Library, HM 217 - Woodward Map 11, figs 5 & 6]. Chart sizes: 229 x
307mm.
Matheo da Gaio, 1516 [Huntington Library, HM 218 - Woodward Map 9, figs 7 & 8]. 371 x 483mm.
Fra Bono Harigonio, 1509 [Newberry Library, Edward E. Ayer Collection MS Map 5 - Woodward Map 1, fig. 10]. 340 x 230mm. Entry in
the Newberry Library
Cartographic Catalog.
Fra Bono Harigonio, 1511 [location now unknown (formerly Prof. Erland Nordenskiöld Collection - Woodward Map 3].
Hieronimi Marin, 1512 [Library of the Foreign Ministry of Brazil - Woodward Map 4]. 380 x 302mm. Facsimile produced by Danesi in
Rome before 1921; exhibited at the Brazilian pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1940/41.
Gabriel Polani, 1513 [Côte de Lyon collection; location now unknown - Woodward Map 6]
A cryptic message to the MapHist list (illegible in the archive version) from Dorothy Sloan on 12 August 2005:
[I recall (in the 1990s?) seeing a map from the Ulm Ptolemy (I think the World) which was particularly interesting because it
reproduced a blemish found only in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum facsimile edition (1963), i.e. the forger had photographed
that rather than an original. Unfortunately, I did not keep a detailed note - Tony Campbell].
[Kirsten
Seaver to MapHist 12 August
2005]:
'Christie's "Bonaldus" chart was a map which the German-Austrian cartographic historian Father Josef Fischer had
purchased for the collections at his school, Stella Matutina, before World War II, in the belief that the map was genuine. In
1941, however, he was having second thoughts about the authenticity of the map (which he had had to leave behind when the Nazis
took over Stella Matutina), and he wrote an article about his misgivings with which David was familiar. Additional information
about this topic may be found on p. 373 of my recent book Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map.
References: 'Josef Fischer, 'Eine bisher unbekannte venezianische Weltkarte aus dem Jahre 1519', Petermanns Geographische
Mitteilungen 87 (1941): 449-51, plates 70-71; Michael Layland, 'Geographical clues to suspect maps', The Map Collector, 69 (1994): 52.
From the Huntington Library description:
'First chart bears inscription "me fecit fra Matheo de Chiara de arimino anno
domine [sic] mdxix," however the atlas is of questionable authenticity and appears to have been made by the same cartographer as HM 218
(q.v.). It cannot be of the date inscribed since the west coast of North America and entire northwestern section of South America could
not have been known until much later. The handwriting appears to be of nineteenth or early twentieth century origin. Parchment seems old;
there are worm holes, but none that penetrate from one surface to the next, making it appear that the holes were present before the atlas
was assembled; blank back sides are heavily scratched. No owners’ markings. Purchased by Henry E. Huntington in 1925 from Weymer Mills,
London, who stated in a letter preserved in Library files that the manuscripts (i.e., HM 217 and HM 218) "have been in the possession of
an English family for 500 years"'.
High resolution scans can be seen here.
References: Michael Layland,
'Geographical clues to suspect maps', and Gregory C. McIntosh, 'More about fake maps' - letters in the The Map Collector, 69
(1994): 52.
From the Huntington Library description:
'Chart is of doubtful authenticity and appears to have been made by the same cartographer as HM 217 (q.v.). It cannot be of the date
inscribed since it bears the place names "Nova Francia" and "Canada" that were not used until Cartier’s explorations in 1534-37. The
script seems modern and the artistry of the wind-heads appears to be late nineteenth century. Purchased by Henry E. Huntington with HM
217 (q.v.) from Weymer Mills, London, in 1925'.
High resolution scans can be seen here.
References: Michael Layland,
'Geographical clues to suspect maps', and Gregory C. McIntosh, 'More about fake maps' - letters in the The Map Collector, 69
(1994): 52.
Reference:
Josef Fischer, 'Eine bisher unbekannte venezianische Weltkarte aus dem Jahre 1519', Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen,
87 (1941): 449-51.
"Ptolemy world map,
Ulm, ca. 1482. Paper on forgery is more limp. Dimensions are a bit smaller. Forgery has scroll down instead of up."
Roman Britain (Bertram - Stukeley)
A map of Roman Britain, supposedly produced by 'Richard of Cirencester' in 1338, drawn and engraved by Charles Bertram in 1755 and published in Denmark in 1757. The antiquarian, William Stukeley believed the map to be genuine and arranged for his own version to be printed by the Society of Antiquaries, also in 1757.
References:
Rodney W. Shirley, 'The map that never was', The Map Collector, 53 (1990): 8-13 (reproducing both
versions).
Rodney W. Shirley, Printed maps of the British Isles 1650-1750 (Map Collector Publications & the British Library, 1988), p.133.
Mark Jones (ed.), Fake? The Art of Deception (British Museum, 1990), p.66 (reproducing the Stukeley version).
Comprising five maps, of which the best known is a small map of Northeast Asia (known as the 'Map with Ship'). [For brief descriptions of the other maps see Bagrow and Olshin.]
The 'Map with Ship' was donated to the Library of Congress by Marcian F. Rossi (G7800 coll. M3 copy 1, Marcian F. Rossi Collection). The original group comprised about 15 documents, the remainder of which are now with a private collector in Texas. They were first noted in 1933, according to Bagrow.
The maps are in Latin and Italian, with some Chinese ideograms, and some 'characters resembling Arabic'. No results have yet been published of any scientific or palaeographical tests, but it is understood that analysis is currently [December 2007] being undertaken at the Library of Congress.
References:
Leo Bagrow, 'Maps from the Home Archives of the Descendants of a Friend of Marco Polo', Imago Mundi, 5
(1948), pp. 3-13 (reproducing the five maps on a fold-out page preceding the article). [Comment from Bagrow about that article in
editorial (p.2) in that same issue that 'he has received conservative opinions from many experts'.] Private subscribers to Imago
Mundi, and those with institutional access, can get that article via JSTOR.
John W. Hessler, messages to the MapHist list, both with heading 'Cartographic Fakes, Tony Campbell, etc.', on 31 January 2008 and 4 February 2008 [about progress with the scientific testing of the maps, to throw light on their date(s) and to retrieve unreadable sections].
Benjamin B. Olshin, message to MapHist on 24 April 2006, 'Gavin Menzies / Gunnar Thompson / "Map with Ship"'.
Benjamin B. Olshin, abstract of a paper delivered at the 2006 annual meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries, 'From Northeast Asia to the Pacific Northwest: "Marco Polo" Maps and Myths'.
Benjamin B. Olshin, 'The Mystery of the ‘Marco Polo’ Maps: An Introduction to a Privately-Held Collection of Cartographic Materials Relating to the Polo Family', Terrae Incognitae, 39 (2007): 1-23
Gunnar Thompson, one from a series of messages to the MapHist list from January 2008 onwards, in this case on 4 February 2008, discussing, under the section 'Dating the Map With Ship', his earlier efforts to obtain a radiocarbon dating. [To get round the lack of word-wrapping, paste the text into another document.]
Library of Congress, 'American Memory': [Map of the Far East and adjacent Pacific] (also known as 'Map-with-ship'). [A brief description accompanying a JPEG2000 scan enlargeable to high resolution - added 22 February 2008].
It appears that E. Forbes Smiley III had three facsimile maps on his person when he was arrested. They were:
The Rouillard/Le Clercq facsimile is not otherwise recorded. Given Finnegan's suggestion that Smiley might have been intending to substitute facsimile versions for original maps bound into books, it is regrettable that the exact nature and origin of those 'facsimiles' was not publicly resolved.
References:
Philip Burden, The Mapping of North America II: a List of Printed Maps 1671-1700 (Rickmansworth: Raleigh Publications, 2007).
William Finnegan, 'Annals of crime: a theft in the library. The case of the missing maps', The New Yorker, 17 October 2005, pp.64-79.
Barbara McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 1513 to 1800: An Illustrated Carto-Bibliography (Providence: The John Carter Brown Library, 2001).
Rodney W. Shirley, The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700 (Holland Press, 1983, and subsequent editions, some with Corrections and Additions).
What has been claimed as 'the world's oldest map' has been branded a fake (see below). It appears that the matter has not yet been resolved.
References:
25 October 2004:
‘A New Ancient Map? The
Salentine peninsula in the 5th century BC’.
"The object discovered on the 21st of August 2003 at Soleto (province of Lecce, Italy), in the course of on-going archaeological
excavations directed on behalf of CERCAM (Université Paul Valéry) by Th. Van Compernolle, is an ostrakon, i.e., a fragment of a
vase, in this case, an attic black-glazed vase, on which is incised the coastline of the Salentine peninsula as well as thirteen
toponyms whose positions are indicated by points. The "Soleto Map" is, to date, the most ancient geographic map of classical
antiquity to have been discovered." (Ancient World Mapping Center).
18 November 2005:
< http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/18/wmap18.xml> 'Archaeologists find
western world's oldest map' (by Hilary Clarke in the Daily Telegraph (London) - about the 'Soleto map' of the Salentine
peninsula at the extreme south of Italy, discovered in 2003, claimed here to be "the oldest map of anywhere in the western world,
dating from about 500 BC.
1 February 2006:
'World's oldest map' a fake? (Soleto map 5th century BC) - message to MapHist from Peter van der Krogt, who
summarises the claim by a Dutch archaeologist that the map is a fake - see Douwe Yntema, 'Ontdekking "oudste kaart"
een grap?', Geschiedenis Magazine, 41, 1 (Jan-Feb 2006), p.5.
The Map Room: a Weblog about Maps - see the Hoaxes & Controversies Archives.
A manuscript map of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, drawn about 1610 and supposedly sent by the Spanish ambassador in London to Philip II. It was 'discovered' in the Archivo General de Simancas in 1887 and has featured prominently in histories of cartography since.
An extract from the abstract of David Allen's article:
"This article raises the possibility that the map may actually be a
nineteenth-century forgery. The map is based primarily on information found on early seventeenth-century maps, most of which were
not published in 1610, although it is possible that manuscript copies of these maps might have been available as early as 1610.
The overall geographic framework of the map seems to be improbably accurate for its supposed date of creation. The map contains
numerous oddities, and many features on the map do not appear on other maps made in the early seventeenth century. Overall it
seems anachronistic and it stands in isolation from other maps made around 1600. Although no single feature on the map proves
beyond a doubt that it is a forgery, the overall weight of the evidence makes it seem highly probable that it is a fake. Tests on
the paper, pigment, and handwriting of the map should be made to prove conclusively whether or not it is a forgery."
References:
David Y. Allen, 'The So-Called
"Velasco Map": A Case of Forgery?', Coordinates: Online Journal of the Map and Geography Round Table, American Library
Association, ser. A, no.5 (February 14, 2006).
Kirsten A. Seaver, "Commentary to 'The So-Called Velasco Map: A Case of Forgery?'", Coordinates: Online Journal of the Map and Geography Round Table, American Library Association, ser. B, no.5 (February 14, 2006).
Deborah Taylor-Pearce, 'Map of Atlantic Coast of North America, 1610 (also known as the "Velasco Map")' [text and comparative illustrations].
Deborah Taylor-Pearce, 'Color and/or modern reproductions of the "Velasco Map" - I' [the first of five gallery pages].
'The Genesis of the United States - Alexander Brown 1890' (excerpts, and illustrations, from the book by the map's discoverer, and from Fite & Freeman's A Book of Old Maps Delineating American History (1928)).
Undoubtedly the most contentious map in the modern history of the subject. The literature on it is vast, stretching back to the first publication of R.A. Skelton (et al.) The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation (Yale University Press, 1965). The map has been attacked as a fake from numerous directions, and defended robustly from some of them. Majority opinion supports the fake thesis, but it still has a handful of supporters. If it is to be confirmed a 20th century fake, we await a full-scale demolition and a universally accepted narrative of where, when and by whom it was created.
References:
Kirsten A. Seaver, Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map (Stanford University Press, 2004)
[the most thorough examination of the 'fake' case, and identifying the man responsible as Father Josef Fischer].
James Robert Enterline, Erikson, Eskimos, and Columbus: Medieval European Knowledge of America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) [by a staunch defender of the Vinland Map].
P.D.A. Harvey, 'The Vinland Map, R. A. Skelton and Josef Fischer', Imago Mundi, 58:1 (2006): 95-9 - freely accessible via Taylor & Francis/Informa [a review article about Seaver's book: 'During the past forty years I have often heard it said that the Vinland Map is, of course, an obvious forgery. It is nothing of the kind. If it is a forgery - and I think it most likely is - it is an extremely skilful one...'].
For online links into the continuing discussion see 'Web articles and commentaries on specific topics in the History of Cartography. 4. Themes' [under 'Vinland Map'].
The map was published in Venice in 1558 with the title 'Carta da navegar de Nicolo et Antonio Zeni furono in tramontana lano MCCCLXXX' [1380]. It had supposedly been edited by their descendant Nicolň Zeno. Later sixteenth-century mapmakers followed its outlines and Hobbs likewise accepted that the published map faithfully reproduced a fourteenth-century manuscript. Others have disagreed, claiming it was a fake. O.A.W. Dilke, in Volume 1 of The History of Cartography, p.197, n.97, states that 'the Zeno map is now thought to date not from 1380, as Nicolň Zeno the younger claimed, but from much later.'
References:
Matti Lainema & Juha Nurminen, Ultima Thule; Arctic Explorations (John Nurminen Foundation & Werner Söderström
Corporations, 2001), p.99 ("The descriptions of the Zeno brothers' journeys contained a great deal of interesting information on
the north, although Nicolň Zeno the Younger's account is largely the product of his imagination.")
William Herbert Hobbs, 'Zeno and the cartography of Greenland', Imago Mundi, 6 (1949), pp. 15-19.
Terrae Incognitae, vol. 2 pp.75-86; vol. 9 pp.81-3.