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In the event that any 'Lis-maps' subscriber knows - or becomes aware - of the presence of any possible component of this (ex-British Empire) material I bravely fwd, via 'MapHist', the original posting. It can do no harm to advertise this 'alert'. (Andrew [Cook]: is this worded adequately?) Francis Herbert -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Karrow Sent: 26 January 2010 16:06 To: Discussion group for map history Subject: [MapHist] Re: [Fwd: [MSN:1957] Antique maps missing from AsiaticSociety] > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [MSN:1957] Antique maps missing from Asiatic Society > Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:29:38 +0100 > From: MSN / TC <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > CC: [log in to unmask] > > Antique maps missing from Asiatic Society > Hemali Chhapia, TNN, 24 January 2010, 02:01am IST > > MUMBAI: India has lost a slice of its history, from an institution no > less than Asiatic Society of Mumbai, founded in 1804 to preserve > India's rich antiquity. From the deep recesses of this establishment > where even roaches can't enter, maps circa 18th Century - priceless, > irreplaceable, hand-drawn and colourful original prints - have been > disappearing from its vaults. > Almost nothing remains of the entire set of maps that date back to > 1803-04: they depict the expanse of Mumbai (then Bombay) in great > detail when the first revenue survey was carried out. Called the > Dickinson survey, close to 350 rolls had every part of the city drawn > - its street plan, forts, old tanks, buildings. The 200-year-old > guardian of these maps has no clue how they slipped through its > fingers. And in what doesn't seem to be an admirable reflection of > Asiatic Society's efforts to preserve these records, another set of > antique rolls last catalogued in 1975 is short of 150 maps. These > included admiralty charts of various parts of the world, some drawn by > the Portuguese who were considered prolific cartographers. > ''It appears to be a systematic theft. Of another set of 1,330 maps > that were catalogued by an internal committee of Asiatic, only 1,135 > remain now. I've written a letter to Society regarding these missing > maps. Maps have been vanishing over a period of time,'' said > geographer B Arunachalam. The architect of University of Mumbai's > geography department, Arunachalam's expertise is mathematical > cartography, and he has worked with bodies like Society of Indian > Ocean Studies, Indian National Cartographic Association, National > Geographic, India. > -- Robert W. Karrow, Jr. Curator of Special Collections and Curator of Maps The Newberry Library 60 West Walton Street Chicago, Illinois 60610-7324 [log in to unmask] Phone: 312-255-3554 Fax: 312-255-3646 Search our map catalog at www.biblioserver.com/newberry _______________________________________________ MapHist: E-mail discussion group on the history of cartography hosted by the Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht. The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Utrecht. The University of Utrecht does not take any responsibility for the views of the author. List Information: http://www.maphist.nl Maphist mailing list [log in to unmask] http://mailman.geo.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/maphist