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17th- and 18th-Century Maps and Charts Depicting the "New World" to Be Exhibited for the First Time "In thy map securely saile": Maps, Atlases, Charts, and Globes from the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection opens October 24 The pencil marks and compass pricks on a chart by an 18th-century Atlantic sea captain are evidence of the frequent use of the chart aboard ship and make one of the exciting visual stories in an exhibition of one hundred extraordinary maps, atlases, charts, and globes on view at The New York Public Library. The exhibition, "In thy map securely saile": Maps, Atlases, Charts, and Globes from the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection, opens on October 24, 1998 and focuses on the 17th- and 18th-century exploration and development of the "New World." "In thy map securely saile" will demonstrate the role maps and charts played in providing information on natural resources and settlements in the New World and how they aided the expansion of British and European interests across the globe. The materials on display are part of a recent gift from the Estate of Lawrence H. Slaughter and will be on view through March 20, 1999, in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room at The New York Public Library's Center for the Humanities, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Admission is free.This exhibition has been sponsored by Condé Nast Traveler and co-sponsored by: AT&T and Jaguar Cars. Support for the Library's exhibitions program has been provided by Pinewood Foundation. The phrase in the exhibition's title, "In thy map securely saile," is borrowed from the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick who was alluding to the security maps provide to explorers in unfamiliar territory. "The Slaughter collection adds great depth to those research collections in The New York Public Library's Center for the Humanities which focus on exploration, discovery, and early American history," said Alice Hudson, curator of "In thy map securely saile" and Chief of the Map Division of The New York Public Library. "I am happy to display these beautiful and important exploration and navigational tools so soon after the gift was received. The maps and charts are not only useful for the information they impart, but they are also exquisite in aesthetic detail." Also on view will be many other celestial charts, manuals of instruction in the arts of compass use and oceanic navigation, and decorative maps produced for the commercial market or as cartographic illustration and documentation. These items range from simple black-and-white illustrations to elaborate engraved maps printed on handmade paper and hand-colored to perfection, including a printed cloth souvenir scarf from 1799. In 1997 the Map Division of The New York Public Library received the gift of a unique and extremely valuable collection of some 750 items from the estate of Lawrence H. Slaughter of Larchmont, New York. Mr. Slaughter's collecting efforts were focused on England's colonizing efforts in North America. Though the majority of the items on display are English in origin, many are from a variety of European countries -- such as France, Holland, and Italy -- where an earlier and more sophisticated grasp of mapping or charting technique had developed. Items from the Slaughter Collection that are not on display are available for public use in the Map Division of the Center for the Humanities at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Mapping in England probably dates from the 13th century. Coastal pilot books and nautical charts of English shores blossomed in the 1600s. In 1670, England was beginning to explode into world domination through her emerging control of the seas. A dramatic red-and-black title page for A geographical description Of the Four Parts of the World reflects 17th-century enthusiasm for commerce, trade, and travel. The earliest nautical sailing directions were oral instructions passed from pilot to pilot, which were developed into written descriptions. In the late 17th century, mathematics taught in English was beginning to flourish. John Seller's Practical Navigation: or, an Introduction to the Whole Art. Containing The Doctrine of Plain and Spherical Triangles. Plain, Mercator, Great-Circle Sailing; and Astronomical Problems, a popular handbook on practical navigation in its seventh edition by 1694, introduced English mathematical skills into ocean navigation. Nearby is a miniature version of Seller's popular atlas which could have been carried on board. Samuel Dunn's "A general map of the world or terraqueous globe" was published in Laurie and Whittle's General Atlas, in 1799. The map depicts a double hemisphere emphasizing the tracks of English explorers, and telling the inquirer about the planets, stars, and geography in as much scientific and technical detail as was available. The first printed "zodiac," published by John Seller in 1675, shows a beautiful ribbon of constellations in the night sky which were used as location aids in early ocean navigation. The exhibition demonstrates the progression in systems of charting as latitude and longitude made the older and less precise system of rhumblines (indicating wind direction) obsolete. Maps and charts were a part of popular culture in England. For example, Charles Dickens could use a chart store as a setting familiar to his readers. Maps of the North American continent became propagandistic weapons in cartographic warfare, as France and England battled for control of the American interior. An unusual item in the exhibition is a "road map" of England and Wales published in 1679, which gives mileages from town to town and was used by porters, haulers, mail carriers, and other travelers. Also shown is the first road atlas of the United States, published in 1789, which highlights many of the same conveniences and hazards we might wish to know of today. Lawrence H. Slaughter Established in 1898, the Map Division holds some 420,000 maps and 20,000 books and atlases dating from the 16th century to the present. The Map Division (Room 117) is open Tuesday from 11 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. Reference phone is 212.930.0587; reference e-mail is mapref@nypl.org. ### For recorded information about exhibitions, the public may call 212.869.8089. "In thy map securely saile": Maps, Atlases, Charts, and Globes from the Lawrence
H. Slaughter Collection is on view in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room (Room 316)
on the third floor of the Center for the Humanities, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
Exhibition hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., and Monday, Thursday
through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Closed Sunday.) Holiday closings are
November 11 & 26; December 25 & 26; January 1, 2 &18; and February
15. Admission is free. pro: ls: 09-25-98 lsmith, thoerenz: pro: 09-30-98 |