Manuscripts

Portolan chart : [cartographic material] : [manuscript], approximately 1502

Description: Black and red ink for nomenclature in a minuscule script with area names in square capitals; land masses outlined in color with islands painted in blue or red, gold or silver; 12 compass roses with the usual 32 rhumb line network in black, red, and green ink for principal directions; double latitude scales (numbered 5° higher on right than on left) and double equator (to compensate for magnetic variation), no longitude; distance is indicated by a series of small circles in lower right corner; decorated with a few figures and vignettes (very faded). Unbound: originally a rolled chart, now flattened. Parchment, f. 1 (full skin); 585 x 942 including left extension (map size, 530 x 772) mm. Top and bottom border decorated with gold in trellis pattern, latitude scales form borders at left and right. Also widely known as the "King-Hamy Portolan chart".
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: [approximately 1502]
Call number: mssHM 45
Provenance: Purchased from A. S. W. Rosenbach, 1923. Possibly made in Italy after a Portuguese prototype early in the sixteenth century. A. Magnaghi in Il planisfero del 1523 della Biblioteca del Re in Torino (Florence 1929) 27 and G. Caraci in Tabulae geographicae vetustiores in Italia adservatae (Florence 1932) 3:62 attribute this chart to Amerigo Vespucci. It belonged to arctic traveller Richard King (1811?-76) and was bought in London by Alphonse Pinart (1832-1911); not in his 1884 sale. Obtained from him in Paris in 1885 by Dr. Jules Théodore Ernest Hamy (1842-1908). His sale by Anderson, New York, 19 November 1912, n. 3, with reproductions on pls. 4 and 5. Bought by James William Ellsworth. His library purchased by A. S. W. Rosenbach who sold this chart to Henry E. Huntington in 1923.
Restrictions: RESTRICTED. Available with curator approval. Extended retrieval and delivery time required.
Dimensions: 585 x 942 mm
Associated organization: Henry E. Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Find out more: View in the Huntington Digital Library(Opens in new tab); View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

[Portolan chart], [1516]

Manuscripts

World chart, from the eastern coasts to India. Parchment, f. 1 (full skin); 1020 x 1520 (1010 x 1515 including left extension) mm. Red border at top edged by black band that continues around left side, no borders on bottom or right. Written in Naples and dated 7 May 1516 by Vesconte Maggiolo. Black and red ink for nomenclature in a minuscule hand with area names in gothic script. American coast, Scotland, and England outlined in color (very faded), other land masses in black ink only; 10 compass roses with usual 32 rhumb line network in black, red and green ink for the principal directions; latitude scale numbered from 40° S to 67° N, no longitude; 4 unnumbered scales of distance; decorated with imaginary animals, kings in pavillions, vignettes of cities, banners, 3 wind-heads, and a large medallion of the Virgin and Child.

mssHM 427

Portolan chart ; Nautical almanac, French : [cartographic material] : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

Part 1. f. 1. [Guillaume Brouscon]. [Portolan chart]. Latin. World chart, which includes America and a large "Terra Java" (Australia?). Chart was originally folded and bound into front of the accompanying volume (here as Part 2 of this description) by an extension which bears a coat of arms. Part 2. ff. 1-20v. [Guillaume Brouscon]. [Nautical almanac]. Latin. ff. 1-4v, Tide tables in circular diagrams; f. 5, Diagram of the Rule of the North Star combined with the Rule to Raise or Lay 1° of Latitude; f. 5v, Chart of coast of northern Spain and western France showing ports linked to compass rose by weaving lines to indicate tides; f. 6, Chart of north coast of France, Flanders, Germany and Denmark with weaving lines as on preceding chart; f. 6v, Chart of England and Scotland with weaving lines as on preceding charts; f. 7, Chart of Ireland with weaving lines as on preceding charts; ff. 7v-8, Calendar of moveable feasts; ff. 8v-11, Vertical calendar of fixed feasts; f. 11v, Compass card; f. 12r-v, Star clock; ff. 13-20v, Solar declination tables for 4 year cycle.

mssHM 46

Portolan chart : [cartographic material] : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

f. 1: [Luís Teixeira, Portolan chart]

mssHM 1549

Portolan chart, French : [cartographic material] : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

f. 1. [Portolan chart]. French. Nautical chart of west coast of Spitsbergen.

mssHM 47

Portolan chart, English : [cartographic material] : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

f. 1. [Andew Welch] Latin. Nautical chart of east coast of North and South America from the St. Lawrence River to the Amazon. Possibly part of London, British Library, Add. 31858.

mssHM 43

Portolan atlas : [cartographic material] : [manuscript], 1547

Manuscripts

1. ff. 1-4v: Enssuyt le Regime et Gouvernement du Solleil: Preliminary sheets of nautical information and tables of declinations). ff. 5v-34: 15 portolan charts of: 1, "Terra Java" (east coast of Australia?); 2, "La Jave" (north coast of Australia?), East Indies, part of Asia; 3, "Terra Java" (west coast of Australia?); 4, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf; 5, Southern Africa and southwest Indian Ocean; 6, Atlantic Ocean with coast of Africa and Brazil; 7, Northwest Africa; 8, Europe and northern Africa; 9, North America, east coast; 10, West Indies, Mexico, Central America, northern South America; 11, Northeastern South America; 12, Southeastern South America, Straits of Magellan; 13, Western Europe and northwestern Africa; 14, Adriatic Sea (by a different cartographer); 15, Aegean Sea (same cartographer as chart 14).

mssHM 29

Portolan chart : [cartographic material] : [manuscript], approximately 1502

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