The book you are holding is the result of rigorous, innovative scientific scholarship involving research and compilation by the historian Ramon J. Pujades on Mediterranean medieval world maps after the year 1300, in addition to the firm commitment of the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia, ICGC) to make the history of cartography known.
The work follows in the wake of its predecessor, the book Les cartes portolanes: la representació medieval d’una mar solcada / Portolan Charts: The Medieval Representation of a Ploughed Sea, published by our Institute in 007 in collaboration with the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and the European Institute of the Mediterranean, and granted an award by the International Cartographic Association (ICA/ACI) at its 24th International Cartographic Conference (Santiago de Chile, 2009).
In Late Medieval World Maps: From the Birth of the Hybrid to the Demise of the Portolan Mappamundi , the author delves into the precedents of medieval nautical cartography and studies the development of a new type of map. This work represents a milestone in the history of cartography: it is a study on the advent, dissemination and evolution of a new way of representing the world, the late medieval hybrid world maps, which emerged at the beginning of the 14th century, drawing on the medieval tradition but influenced by the innovations made in portolan cartography.
But this book is not just a catalogue grouping these world maps together: it describes them in detail, brilliantly establishes certain patterns, and highlights the influences of these mappaemundi. The first part contains a study of the maps and the second part (available in digital format) offers an accurate description of each of the maps studied, with a remarkable novelty: the transcription of all toponyms and demonyms appearing on them, as well as all the transcription and translation of the legends and other written items. This makes reading the maps easier for those with no knowledge of palaeography.
The book reproduces a large number of maps preserved in archives and libraries around the world and has opted for a bilingual Catalan-English edition as it is a publication with an international vocation. The layout has required time and expertise, a job carried out by the Institute’s technical teams.