Map Collecting Terms
Standard terminology for all rare map collectors
Backed: A fragile map is sometimes glued or pasted to another material such as a cloth to make the map more durable. Maps are usually backed for purposes of conservation, and should not be backed when there is no good reason to do so.
Bleaching: This is done to remove stains or lighten browning. However, bleaching weakens the paper and usually leaves the map with a ghostly appearance that is disliked by many collectors.
Border: The printed area on the edges of a map. Map borders range from a simple white line to elaborate areas of scrollwork, decorative panels and/or geometrical designs.
Browning: As the organic material in paper ages, it undergoes a chemical transformation that causes the paper to darken over time. If left alone, browning can eventually deteriorate a map so that it is unreadable and/or severely brittle. To prevent browning, maps should be protected from atmospheric pollutants and exposure to too much ultraviolet light from the sun or fluorescent lamps.
Carta Marina: A term applied to 16th-century rectangular world maps.
Carte a Bordures or Carte a Figures: A map with decorative panels of figures, views and the like on the borders.
Cartographer: A mapmaker.
Cartouch or Cartouche: Information surrounded by a border. Cartouches typically enclose the title or the imprint of a map. The cartouche may be a simple rectangle or oval, or may incorporate a number of decorative elements.
Centerfold: Many old maps have been removed from atlases in which they were folded and stapled due to their size. Browning usually occurs at the fold, as the glue used in the binding releases chemicals that speed up the deterioration of the paper.
Coloring: The color applied to a map, usually watercolor applied by brush.
Compass Rose: A small star-like device used to indicate direction, often found in combination with radiating rhumb lines. A pointer on a compass rose usually indicates north.
Deckle-Edged: Handmade paper retaining the original rough edges as produced by the papermaker. Maps retaining the original deckled-edge are considered quite scarce and desirable.
Decorative: A decorative map has definite aesthetic appeal in value. The 17th century is considered to be the peak period of decorative mapmaking.
Dissected: When a map has been cut into sections, usually due to its size.
Edition: A map edition is determined only by the imprint. If the imprint is changed, there is a new edition. This would mean that a printing plate has been changed, and therefore there is a brand new imprint.
Engraving: A printing process using a metal plate on which a design has been scratched. When ink is applied to the plate and the plate is wiped, ink remains behind in the grooves of the scratch. A dampened sheet of paper is laid onto the plate, and under pressure the inked design is transferred.
Etching: A printing process similar to engraving, except that the plate is produced by coating it with an acid-resistant material upon which the design is scratched. Acid is used to eat away at the scratched areas, creating the grooves to hold ink for printing.
Folio: A folio book is bound from sheets of paper folded one time. A map from such a book is sometimes said to be "folio-sized." Typically, the vertical paper dimension of a folio map is greater than about 11 inches. Large folio maps are about 17 to 22 inches.
Foxing: The appearance of spots on paper caused by mold. Foxing often results from storage in damp conditions.
Gore: A section of a globe printed on paper, intended to be cut out and pasted to the surface of a sphere. Gores are usually in the shape of an American football.
Impression: A single copy of a map. For example, if 2,500 copies of a map are printed, there will be, at that time, 2,500 impressions.
Imprint: Information printed on a map giving some combination of the publisher, place of publication, and/or date of publication.
Incunabula: Books or maps printed prior to 1500 AD.
Inset Map: A smaller map within the border of a larger map.
Issue: A series of impressions printed at the same time without alteration to the plate. If two impressions are different states, the plate has been altered and they cannot belong to the same issue. But if an unaltered plate is used several times over a period of years, then the several issues would all be of the same state. Issues can sometimes be distinguished by the watermark, since different paper might have been used for each issue.
Lafreri Atlas: 16th-century Italian composite atlases of printed maps. These were apparently often made to order.
Laid Down: See Backed.
Laid Lines: Part of the visible impression left by the wire grid used in the fabrication of laid paper. Laid lines are the finely spaced lines running parallel to the long dimension of the original sheet.
Laid Paper: Handmade paper made by depositing cloth fibers suspended in water onto a wire grid. The grid leaves an impression on the paper, which may be seen when looking through the paper with a bright light. Most maps printed or made before 1800 are printed on laid paper.
Leo Belgicus: A special map depicting the Low Countries (present-day Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium) in the form of a lion.
Lined: See Backed.
Lithography: A form of printing whereby an image is printed from a stone or other material on which ink adheres only to specially treated areas. Lithography was first used for maps in the early 1800's.
Manuscript: A map drawn by hand.
Margin: The blank area outside the border of a map. Do not confuse margin with border.
Medallion: A circular or oval region, usually containing a portrait, sometimes used to embellish a map.
Mounted: See Backed.
Octavo: An octavo book is bound from sheets of paper folded in half three times. A map from such a book is sometimes said to be "octavo-sized." Typically, the vertical paper dimension of such a map is about 8 to 9 inches.
Offsetting: Occurs when the surface of a map contacts another surface for many years, faintly reproducing a mirror image of the other surface. It may be a transfer of printer's ink or color, or a chemical reaction. Offsetting commonly occurs from one part of a map to another if the map is folded on itself.
Panels: Usually rectangular frames around the outside of a map, enclosing views, scenes or figures.
Periplus: A text of sailing directions used in classical times.
Plate: A wooden or metal plate from which impressions are made.
Plate Mark: An indentation of the paper extending to just outside the printed area, made when the paper was crushed by the plate during printing. Impressions made from metal plates often show plate marks.
Portolano: A manuscript sea chart prepared for the use of mariners from about the 14th through the 16th centuries.
Printer's Crease: A small wrinkle in the paper that becomes pressed when the map is printed to form a permanent crease.
Quarto: A quarto book is bound from sheets of paper folded in half twice. A map from such a book is sometimes said to be "quarto-sized." The vertical dimensions of such a map are usually about 9 to 11 inches.
Rag Paper: Paper made from cloth fibers.
Recto: The side of the paper on which the image of interest appears. The right-hand page of an open book.
Remargined: A remargined map has had paper added to the edges to extend them, protecting the original edges and improving the appearance.
Restrike: A map printed from the original stone or block plate after the plate had fallen into disuse. Collectors seldom, if ever, encounter restrikes, since few plates or blocks have survived.
Rhumb Lines: Lines crisscrossing old maps at various angles, usually along the directions of the compass points, to help plot courses.
Rococo: A style of ornamentation evolving from the baroque in the early 18th-century France, distinguished by refined use of scrollwork, seashells, foliage, etc.
State: All impressions printed from a given plate, without deliberate alteration of that plate, belong to the same state. If the plate is altered by adding a new place, name or date, impressions from that plate constitute a new state.
Verso: The opposite side of the sheet from the image of interest. The left-hand page of an open book.
Volvelle: A contrivance with moving parts for making certain astronomical calculations, sometimes made of paper and found in old geographical works.
Wall Map: A very large map, typically four to five feet on a side, with a top rail and a roller, designed to be displayed on a wall.
Watermark: A design in the paper visible by transmitted light.
Woodcut: An image made by printing from a wooden block on which a mirror image of the design has been carved. Woodcut maps are most often associated with the earliest days of mapmaking, up to about 1600, but many examples are found well into the 18th century.
Wood Engraving: Similar to a woodcut, but the design is engraved on the end grain. This results in better detail and a somewhat more uniform appearance.
Worming, Worm Tracks, or Wormholes: Damage to paper by insect larvae that eat the paper, leaving small holes or tracks.
Woven Paper: Machine-made paper deposited during manufacture on a fine wire screen having about the same mesh size as gauze. The impression left by the screen can often be seen by holding the paper to the light.
