χάρτης khartēs – Greek for map
I love maps, especially old maps. There’s something romantic and adventurous about them, not to mention the fact some of them can be beautiful works of art, like the one pictured above.
Several years (2011 to be precise) ago I had a notion to make an old fashioned rag rug for my kitchen, so I looked into the price of buying rug canvas online. It was far too expensive for my budget so I dismissed the idea.
Fast forward a few months and I was browsing through our village charity shop and lo, what did I find but a roll of rug canvas for only £3! I quickly bought it and came home. I was showing my husband my charity shop spoils at the kitchen table (a ritual I tend to regularly do – it’s part of the whole charity shop experience, ending in “and all of this cost only £4-50*!”). *amount subject to variation depending how many pennies I can find hidden in jacket pockets on that day. I wanted to see how big a piece of rug canvas I’d been lucky enough to buy, so I unrolled it, discarding the large piece of white paper rolled up with it. The rug canvas was several metres long (yay!). Tidying up, I was just about to chuck the piece of white paper up when I thought I’d better check and see if anything was written on it.
Out fell this map!
Drawn by Jan Jansson, a Dutch cartographer and publisher from Amsterdam, and printed in 1646, this map would originally have been part of a French atlas of some sort, given the text printed on the back.
With the aid of a friend of mine working in the Shetland Museum and Archives and her map contacts from Edinburgh, the map was authenticated and valued at around £400.
I had planned to get it professionally framed in appropriate glass so it wouldn’t degrade, but again, that was well outwith the budget and so I stored it safely on the top shelf of the bookshelves above my desk.
A few weeks later our then two year old was found standing on the desk, reaching up to the top shelf, map in hand! I knew then the map wasn’t safe in our house. We have three children, nothing is safe in this house. Everything gets trashed, eventually.
So, I donated it to the Shetland Museum & Archives where it’s safely stored in a temperature and humidity controlled drawer of its very own, and where anyone can, should they wish, go and gaze upon its mappy awesomeness.
I’d love to know the story behind this map and how it ended up in a roll of rug canvas in a rural Shetland charity shop!
I never did make that rug. The canvas is sitting in my closet, still rolled up!
This week, a little later than usual because it took me ages to come up with a suitable X, for PODcast’s Alphabet Photography Project, X is for χάρτης khartēs.
A is for… Adventure
B is for… Brave
C is for… Coast
D is for… Derelict
E is for… Education
F is for… Fishing Industry
G is for… Green
H is for… Helicopter
I is for… Iron Age
J is for… Jelly Sweets
K is for… Kohlrabi
L is for… Lynn
M is for… Marmoset
N is for… Noise
O is for… Orangedale
P is for Puffin
Q is for Quarry
R is for… Ruins
S is for Sculpture
T is for… Time
U is for… Up Helly Aa
V is for… Valhalla
W is for… Winkles
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Maya Russell
Brilliant story. Really nice of you to donate the map to a museum.
Once, when we were clearing out some things we found a painting that had been painted on the back cover of a very old hardback book. There was some writing and Holland was mentioned but although I looked up the artist I couldn’t find anything. We had it framed as it’s so good.
bev
I| like looking at old maps too!
David Bowie
Elizabeth, I sent a link to this story to an old friend of ours who is a bit of an expert on maps and map-making and who also happens to be Dutch. http://blogs.unb.ca/newsroom/2014/02/03/will-c-van-den-hoonaard-featured-in-national-geographic/comment-page-1/
This excerpt is from his reply.
“That’s a delightful story (even harrowing!) for those who love maps. I do recall your sending me the email, but I have been to absorbed and distracted with my writing projects, incl. the children’s book on the Life of the Bab as a Child (which is, I hope, coming out this week…). The text is often in Latin on old maps. It is a map of the Orkneys showing the best fishing grounds. The estimated price is quite accurate I would say. Maybe she can still create a carpet out of the design of the map!
Granddad Bowie
Elizabeth
Thank you! A carpet out of the design sounds amazing! 😀
Mummy of Two
What a find! How great of you to donate it too rather than sell it like a lot of people would have done!
Cheryl
Brilliant story. That is the best charity shop bargain. How exciting to find. I’m glad everyone can enjoy it. It wouldn’t have survived in our house either. #AlphabetPhoto
Stephanie
What a great find, a great x and a great story!
Dean of Little Steps
My husband loves maps too! That’s one of the reasons why we’re probably the only couple in the whole wide world who doesn’t own a satnav! He says he prefers maps and also has a collection of really old ones… PS love charity shops too.
You Baby Me Mummy
Very inventive, what a beautiful map x #AlphabetPhoto
Sara (@mumturnedmom)
What a brilliant story, how fascinating to find that map, and lovely of you to donate it to the museum. I have lots of projects like your rug, sitting waiting for time…!
Karen
Oh my I just read your post with gasps and a cry of noooo not the map! I’m so pleased it’s in a safe place and what a wonderful gift to donate. I hope you get your mat made!
rachael
fabulous post! I love maps too – and old postcards. There’s something really magical and inspiring about them,.
Caitlyn McKenzie
What an awesome story! So generous of you to donate it so that everyone can revel in the brilliance of it. Antique maps are truly valuable and very in fashion for home decorating at the moment.