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Description

AE Nordenskiold Researching His Recently Purchased Berlinghieri Atlas

Fascinating letter from the famed 19th Century explorer and map scholar AE Nordenskiold to a French speaking colleague, most likely Henri Harrisse.

After a preliminary discussion of unnamed nautical charts, Nordenskiold questions the sources of the place names present in Berlinghieri's Tabula Moderna of France, the first modern printed map of the region.  This query was almost certainly related to Nordenskiold's recent acquisition of Berlinghieri's 1478 Geographia, which he had purchased from Bernard Quaritch in London for £12.12s. on August 27, 1886, one of two examples offered by Quaritch in his General Catalogue of 1886 (items 28112 and 28113).  Interestingly, Nordenskiold chose an incomplete example, lacking the map of Palestine, likely because of the reduced price.  Yet more ironic is Quartich's offer of 2 Nordenskiold map publications on the preceding page (#28108 - Facsimiles de Trois Cartes precolombiennes  . . .  and #28109 - Facsimile de la Carte de Nic. Donis 1482, which was apparently map #3 in entry #28108).

One would imagine that there is a very high probability that the recipient of the letter was French map scholar Henry Harrisse. Harrisse, who was then about 32 years old, is known to have corresponded with Nordenskiold and the Henry Harrisse archive at the University of North Carolina includes examples of the correspondence between the two.  By this date, Harrisse had already established himself as a great scholar and his name appears repeatedly in the Quaritch catalog -- mostly pointing out Harrisse's supposed errors.

Nordinskold writes:   

J'ai bein recu votre letrtre et je vous umercie des renseignments qu'elle contient.  

Je vous remite ci-joint des indiations sur les cartes nautiques dont il etait question dans ma dermiere lettre. 

La plus ancienne carte imprimee des la France (Tabula Moderna) que je connaisse se trouve dans "Septe Giornate della Geographia di Berlinghieri (ou Berlingieri) Firenze c. 1478."

Les geographes francais ne pourraiente-ils pas detgermniner a quelle epoque remonte l'original de cette carte?  Elle est si riche noms qu'il me semble  qu'une telle determination ne doit pas presenter trop de difficultes, et cette determination pourrait peut-etgre nous fournir la clef pour determiner l'origine des cartes des pays septentrionaux quel'on trouve dans les manuscrits de Ptolemee du XVeme siecle.

Translation:

I send you herewith indications on the nautical charts of which it was question in my last letter.

The oldest printed map of France (Tabula Moderna) that I know of is in "Septe Giornate della Geographia di Berlinghieri (ou Berlingieri) Firenze c. 1478."

Couldn't French geographers determine when the original of this map dates back? It is so rich in names that it seems to me that such a determination should not present too many difficulties, and this determination could perhaps furnish us with the key to determine the origin of the maps of the northern countries which one finds in the 15th century manuscripts of Ptolemy.

The following link is to the Quaritch Catalog:  https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111603483.221/pdf

Reference
Ann-Mari Mickwitz, DEAR MR. NORDENSKIÖLD, YOUR OFFER IS ACCEPTED!; Chapter published in The Map Librarian In The Modern World, Essays in Honour of Walter W. Ristow, 221-236 (1979).