skip to content
 

Abraham Ortelius letters. In Early Modern Letters Online.

Articles in Journals on the History of Cartography. Indexes and lists from the University of Utrecht. 

Atlas of Early Printing. An interactive site designed to be used as a tool for teaching the early history of printing in Europe during the second half of the fifteenth century.

Book Owners. A directory of historical book owners, with information about their libraries, and signposts to further sources.

CERL Thesaurus. Contains names of persons, corporate bodies, places and printers/publishers recorded in books or other material printed during the hand-press era (1450 - ca. 1830). 

Copyright and Cartography. A research project investigating the history of cartography and copyright law.

Exeter Working Papers in Book History. Biographical and bibliographical information on the book trades, Great Britain and further afield. Maintained by Ian Maxted.

History of Cartography Project. 'A research, editorial, and publishing venture drawing international attention to the history of maps and mapping'. The Project's major work, published by University of Chicago Press, is the multi-volume History of Cartography series [CUL classmark S696.b.079] some volumes of which are available online

History of Cartography Timelines. From The Brussels Map Circle.

ICA Commission on the History of Cartography.

International Commission for the History of Towns (ICHT).

International Directory of Researchers in Map History. Online directory of researchers interested in any aspect of map history. 

Language of Bindings Thesaurus (LoB) A thesaurus of bookbinding terms for book structures dating from the ninth to the nineteenth century.

Laurence Worms : Essays and Lectures.

MacDonald Gill. 1884-1947. Map maker, graphic designer, letterer and architect.

MapAnalyst. "A software for the accuracy analysis of old maps. Its main purpose is to compute distortion grids and other types of visualizations that illustrate the geometrical accuracy and distortion of old maps".

Map History / History of Cartography. THE Gateway to the subject. Lots of invaluable information on, e.g. events, fellowships and prizes, map collecting and collections, online images of maps and much more. Includes sections entitled: Books to get you into the SubjectWeb articles: PeopleSpecial topics: Peoplehow to tell a fake or forgery, and much more.

Mapping of New York State: A study in the history of cartography. By David Yehling Allen. Preliminary publication, which is undergoing continuous revision. 

Medea-Chart  The Medieval and Early Modern Nautical Chart: Birth, Evolution, and Use. A research project on the History of Nautical Cartography, funded by the European Research Council. 

New Landscapes: Enclosure in Berkshire. Maps and land awards on this site show the process of enclosing the common fields of the county of Berkshire between 1738 and 1883. Lots of background information on enclosure. 

Palaeography. From The National Archives - a web tutorial to help you learn to read the handwriting found in documents written in English between 1500 and 1800. See also Some Notes on Medieval English Genealogy - Handwriting and Language Guide. 

Petrol Maps. Mapping the history of oil company road maps in Europe. Packed with information and illustrations. Includes section on dating oil company road maps.

Printing:

Recent Trends in the History of Cartography: A Selective, Annotated Bibliography to the English-Language Literature. Article by Matthew Edney published in 2007.

WWII Escape Maps. Information about US and British cloth maps of WWII.

Watermarks - Briquet Catalogue

Watermarks (and paper) - Cambridge Archivists Group blog post On medieval paper in Cambridge

Watermarks - Digital Approaches to the Capture and Analysis of Watermarks

Watermarks - Filigranes

Watermarks (and paper) - Memory of Paper Portal

Watermarks - The Piccard Collection and see also here to search the catalogue.

Watermarks - The Thomas L. Gravell Watermark Archive.

Opening Times

Map Room Opening Times

Monday to Thursday 9am to 12:45pm and 2pm to 5:10pm
Friday 9am to 12:45pm and 2pm to 4:50pm 

i.e., we are closed lunch time, in the evenings and on Saturdays. However, given sufficient notice, we may be able to transfer Map Department items to the Rare Books Reading Room for consultation during these closed periods. 

Remember: Pencils only in the Map Room and No food or drink!

Where to Find Us

Library Floorplan

The Map Room - the Map Department's Reading Room - is on the first floor of the Library at the far end of the North Gallery. At the top of the stairs from the Library's Entrance Hall, turn right and the Map Room is at the end of the corridor. 

We are very close to the Tea Room.

If you have you visited, please take a few moments to give us feedback on your visit via our survey: https://uniofcam.libwizard.com/f/CUL_User_Survey

Contact us

Map Department 
Cambridge University Library 
West Road 
Cambridge 
CB3 9DR 

Email: maps@lib.cam.ac.uk

Telephone:
+44 (0) 1223 333041
+44 (0) 1223 333042
 
Our LibGuide may help with some enquiries