Much has been written on the history of the development of atlases. The span of time between Ptolemy and Stieler is well documented with studies of a general character as well as with studies devoted to a specific period or a particular work. There is hardly a textbook on the history of cartography in which this subject does not figure. It seems as if we all agree that we cannot do our jobs properly without reverting to the category of map-books. There being very little to say about atlases in Copernicus' time, apart from Ptolemy's Geographia, a change of subject, not dealing with geographical thought in the late middle ages, may perhaps change the atmosphere of this conference, but a complete break away from the themes of this conference will be avoided as the subject of this paper is closely linked with Polish carto-bibliographical research. In our knowledge of the history of atlas-making, referred to above, the scientific foundations have been collected from the wealthy repositories like national and university libraries, where atlases of all kinds have been accumulated in the course of centuries. It is one of the duties of research libraries to make their holdings accessible to research workers. Not only to those who visit the libraries but also to those less fortunate who cannot travel to them. As the Polish libraries have shown a most pleasant attitude towards those students and research workers who want to know what atlases are kept and where, it seems appropriate to demonstrate the usefulness of the research catalogue of atlases in Polish libraries. Writing a history of atlas-making presupposes that the research worker is familar with all the major atlases having been made, both land, sea, and thematic atlases, in various countries, during the last four centuries. This knowledge can only be obtained on the spot, i.e. in the collections of libraries and museums, but one should know where to go. Thanks to the publication of the Central Catalogue of Cartographical Collections in Poland (Centralny Katalog Zbiorow Kartograficznych w Polsce), Poland is one of the very few countries in the world where the holdings of early atlases have been made accessible on a nationwide scale, i.e. in a published union catalogue of early atlases. The Central Catalogue of Cartographical Collections in Poland will be called from now on the Union Catalogue of Early Atlases in Polish Libraries. This catalogue started with the publication of its first volume in i96i. As the introduction states 'The intention of the publication is ... to provide information concerning Polish cartographical collections preserved in our biggest libraries . . .'. Descriptions of cartographical material are divided into two groups, viz (i) descriptions concerning atlases and geographical works, (2) descriptions of loose maps. In i968 the fourth volume was published. All four volumes deal with atlases. The learned world of map historians is looking forward to the next volumes, which will deal with the loose maps in Polish libraries. The author knows too well, from his own experience, how difficult it is to obtain a fairly good impression of the holdings of early atlases in those libraries where the card catalogue is not in a good state. The more so, as atlases are more difficult to catalogue than books. With the help of the Catalogue of Early Atlases in Polish Libraries it is not necessary any more to visit the libraries to consult the card catalogue (which is not always present) in order to obtain information on special atlases or on the holdings of early atlases in general. From my own experience I can demonstrate the usefulness of the Polish catalogue in respect of the bibliographic study of Dutch atlases as part of the ten years work on the bibliography of early Dutch atlases: Atlantes N~eerlandici. Without taking the trouble to travel for several weeks, I could visit all the major Polish
Read full abstract
Jun 27, 2023
Tatyana Kalikhman 
Open Access
