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The Gough Map
Pronounced "goth" The maps library, inside the Bodleian Library, works fairly independently from the book-related portions. Dealing exclusively in cartography books, maps, and GIS (including some sophisticated electronic references), the maps library holds its own for famous achievements. Unlike in the United States where USGS maps are considered public domain, the UK holds complicated copyrights on its maps, making it more difficult to reproduce (and therefore get your hands on) various maps of the area.
On one of the computer terminals we were shown how a program (similar to google maps) can give very detailed close-ups of locations in the UK. In contrast with Google maps, this map which is exclusively available through the Bodleian, can show borders of private as well as public property, trees, and streets. Surprisingly, even though the maps systems have come along way techologically, the entire map collection is only searchable using an old fashioned card (yes, actual cardstock) catalog. Nick Millea, the Map Librarian told us that it would take somewhere around 26 years for a single person to catalog the entire collection digitally and they simply do not have the resources to hire an entire crew to start the overwhelming project.
The most famous
map in the Bodleian's posession is probably the Gough Map, which recently travelled to the United States for some sort of huge map convention. The map is the earliest map of Britian, dated at 1360. In comparison with the Mappi Mundi (which I saw in Hereford), this map was more sophisticated, using the right ratios of distance and proper symbols. The symbols looked almost like the map maker was reproducing each building, but were in fact just symbols that were repeated each time there was a church, a river, a building etc.
Within the collection of maps, there are locations that are literally not of this world; the librarians at the Bodleian do not turn away maps of different planets, moons, or even fictional places such as Narnia or Lord of the Rings maps.
My special request during our visit to these libraries was to take a look at a 17th century nautical map. The novel I'm writing is set around this time and my characters will have to be experts on such maps. I learned that nautical maps that are issued by the Navy are arranged by number instead of by place. Nick Millea told us that this could be very annoying for librarians because the numbers do not seem to be assigned in any logical order and unexeptedly change for no apparent reason. This numerical system started in 1795, making this the long-standing precident for nautical maps. Early nautical maps or Portolan charts began in the 1200's and were practically useless for navigation on land.
When the nautical map from 1701 was removed from its protective box, my breath caught in my throat. Straight out of some pirate movie, the map was in flawless condition. Different colored blocks of land were traced with very little detail, but the vast expanse of water was covered in little lines and symbols. Various rocks that jutted from the water were shown as highly detailed, shaded spheres. Even rocks that were under water were represented, encircled with neat, little dots to show that they were not visible from above the water. The coolest thing about this map was the criss-cross of little lines that sliced through the wide expanse of ocean. Nick Millea explained that each line was a "rhumb line" or a course that a seaman could take without danger. While the map was being enclosed once again, I could feel my disapointment building as though I didn't have nearly enough time alone with it. How silly is that? Wanting time alone with the map? And after all that, the guide actually appologized that the map was from 1701 and not from the 17th century.
As we walked on, I found out that a scholar with a similar interest in nautical maps spent some time in the Bodleian. Looking all over Europe for these maps, Richard Pflederer apparently published a recent publication on the matter of ancient nautical maps. I wasn't able to find the publication online because it is a private publication, but I plan to request to purchase it if I can find his email address.
We spent that afternoon in the lecture room with David Howell. The lecture on how to preserve collections was not only interesting but also crucial to any librarian public, academic or otherwise. Howell had recently been called in to preserve a collection after a fire had occured in the building. He showed us some very sobering pictures of the building as it was on fire (he felt a little nervous driving towards the burning building that everyone else was driving away from).
In short, we learned that sources of damage for books are: fire, water, light, insects/mold, natural decomposition, inappropriate handling, pollutants/dust, and theft/vandalism. We went over some possible solutions for each one, but most were common sense practices. In order to remove "pests" or an insect infestation, you could do three possible things: freeze, heat, or put the books in a low-oxygen environment. It was interesting to note that freezing a book is the solution to nearly everything. If there is water damage, freezing the book keeps the water from spreading and helps the preserver get rid of the water more easily. Freezing also kills insect eggs and eliminates any possiblity of a book rekindling from after a fire.
Speaking of fire... My favorite part of Howell's lecture was when he related his experiment involving a book and his barbecue. Apparently, to test the fire resistance of books, he placed a deselected (weeded) book on his barbecue and lit it with a blow torch. He was surprised that only a little bit of the book took the fire. His curiosity satisfied, he went away leaving the book on the grate. Later when he returned, the book had burned entirely to the spine, proving that the fire can slowly spread even after the fire has occured. Several of the librarians in the room balked at his boldness. Is book burning a librarian blasphemy? Despite the indignant comments and expressions, I fully appreciated the spirit of the experiment and decided that this man reminded me a little of Gil Grissom from CSI.
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