Mapy ziem polskich w wydawnictwach książkowych i atlasach do końca XVIII wieku w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego

Abstract

Lodz University Library houses a collection of books and geographical atlases published centuries ago and containing contemporary maps of Polish territories, thus being of significant historical importance. The oldest geographical work in this collection is Hartmann Schedel’s ‘Liber Chronicarum’, produced in 1493, which contains a contemporary map of Poland. Maps dating from the 16th century can be found in Sebastian Münster and Abraham Ortelius’ works, as well as in a number of successive editions of Gerard Mercator’s atlases that continued to be published by his heirs until the mid-18th century. The collection of the Library also features Joannes Janssonius’ atlas, containing maps of Poland and Lithuania, that made a significant impact on the publishing market in the 17th century. Many interesting maps of Polish territories of that time can also be found in the following works: ‘Theatrum Europaeum’ by Matthäus Merian and ‘De Rebus a Carolo Gustavo’ by Samuel Pufendorf. French cartographers brought about a revolution in the process of making maps and introduced new methods of astronomical and geodetic measurements. The dominance of French cartography in the second half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century is, therefore, undeniable. Dating from this period, very valuable, though not numerous works of French cartographers, such as Nicolas de Fer or Robert de Vaugondy, are part the collection of the Library. The map that has changed the cartographic representation of Polish territories to the greatest extent was, at that time, a rather small map made by Wilhelm le Vasseur de Beauplan, French cartographer in Polish service. This map can be found in Szymon Starowolski’s ‘Polonia’. Moreover, the Library holds a rich collection of Homann’s atlases, which contain a map titled ‘Regni Poloniae Magnique Ducatus Lithuaniae’ and Tobias Mayer’s map titled: ‘Mappa Geographica’. Herman Moll, Thomas Kitchin and Andrew Dury’s works, that represent the 18th-century English cartography, are also included in the collection of the Library of Lodz University. The collection of maps of Polish territories is complemented by an administrative map titled ‘Der Königlischen Republik Polen […]’. This map comes from the atlas titled ‚Schauplatz der Fünf Theile der Welt’, which was made by an Austrian cartographer, Johann Joseph von Reilly, and published in Vienna in 1789.