2018

Excursions Brussels Map Circle’s Excursion in Luxembourg (Marie-Anne Dage) Looks at books From around the World – Egypt, the Sudan and Libya (Wulf Bodenstein) The Island of Malta and the Order of St John (Nicola Boothby) A geographer’s career in the Enlightenment century-Jean-Baptiste d’Anville (Jean-Louis Renteux) Miscellaneous Record sale of a Blaeu atlas in Brussels (Jean-Louis Renteux) News from Switzerland - Cartographica Helvetica (Wulf Bodenstein) Brussels Map Circle 20th Anniversary Programme History and Cartography The maps in the early editions of Guicciardini's Descrittione di tutti i paesi bassi (Wouter Bracke) How I Got Into Cartography Interview with Chet Van Duzer (Luis A. Robles-Macias)

Maps in History, 2018

Looks at books Mario Cam's 'Companions in Geography' Pictures at an Exhibition Cosmography at the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum Miscellaneous UNESCO's 'Memory of the World International Register' - The Great Siege of Malta maps of 1565 PHIMCOS, the Philippine Map Collectors’ Society – Update 1525 Ptolemy’s Geography re-united at Princeton University History and Cartography The Portuguese voyages to the Spice Islands and the first European maps and sketches of Southeast Asia, 1502-1554 The formation of the border between Belgium and Luxembourg in 1830-1839 (Caroline De Candt) How I Got Into Cartography Interview with Michael Bischoff

2019

Looks at books Le Monde vu d'Asie. Une histoire cartographique edited by Pierre Singaravélou and Fabrice Argounès (Christiane De Craecker-Dussart) Der Kupferstecher Karl Kolbe (1777- 1842) und seine Rundkarten. Ein Berliner Künstlerleben im Biedermeier zwischen Gold- medaille und Pistolenkugel by Eckhard Jäger (Wulf Bodenstein) Pictures at an Exhibition Cartography in the Friuli region (Alex Smit) The Horizons of the Beauce: Maps of the former Granary of France (Andrew Cookson) The Republic Models the World (Jean-Louis Renteux) Miscellaneous The Brussels Map Circle 20th Anniversary Celebration (Karen De Coene) History and Cartography Peter Kolbe's Maps of the Cape of Good Hope (Roger Stewart) How I Got Into Cartography Interview with Karen De Coene (Luis A. Robles Macías)

2019

Exploring places with maps The National Archives of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. A new law, new premises, a new way of working … (Nicola Boothby) Looks at books Le langage des géographes. Termes, signes, couleurs des cartes anciennes (1500-1800) by by François de Dainville | Preface by Hélène Richard, Jean-Louis Tissier and Cécile Souchon (Christiane De Craecker-Dussart) Brabantia Ducatus | Geschiedenis en cartobibliografie van het Hertogdom Brabant tot 1795 by Mario Dorigo & Mathieu Franssen (Eric Leenders) The Da Vinci Globe by Stefaan Missine (Wouter Bracke) Franz Ritter von Hauslab, der gelehrte Offizier by Jan Mokre (Wulf Bodenstein) Pictures at an Exhibition Pictura Loquens (Jean-Louis Renteux) Miscellaneous Bears with measuring chains … (Nicola Boothby) The Map Room at the Royal Library of Belgium has a new reading room. Or not? (Wouter Bracke) History and Cartography Chronograms in cartography – an excursion into dates (Francis Herbert) Nieuwe Caart van de Rivier van Glasgow (John Moore) How I Got Into Cartography Interview with Angeliki Tsorlini (Luis A. Robles Macías)

Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society, n. 137, 2014

Peregrinations, 2009

Since prehistoric times, the allure for the inhabited world has always been of interest to mankind. This clearly states that from the earliest times, maps have played a significant role in human history. In present times both these maps and their makers serve as powerful medium to revive forgotten personalities and historical events. The history of map making shows that during ancient times, mapmaking was basically a form of decorative art but the most decorative maps have been produced during the middle age times. Mappe mundi and portolan charts were the two traditions found in the European world. But Muslim scholars were still following Ptolemy " s method and also incorporating writings of travelers and explorers. Through this paper we are making an attempt to have a retrospective view on maps of medieval times and how they laid foundations for scientific modern cartography.

Cartografia e potere. Segni e rappresentazioni negli atlanti italiani del Novecento, Torino, UTET Università, 2007 , 2007

This book offers an unusual perspective on geographical maps. It challenges the widespread notion that the map is a mirror, a faithful rendition of a geographic region, and the objective product of scientific and technical expertise alone. The book highlights the cultural and ideological determinants that guide cartographic drawing, and that can spell the difference between a simple aid to orientation and a powerful and compelling instrument having the ability to manufacture consent, serve vested interests and back political projects. This book, the only scientific treatise on 20th century Italian cartography published to date, uses Italy as a case study in order to analyze how political dynamics and vested interests may influence mapping in a given country. Bearing in mind that cartography reflects the dominant geographic models and categories of society, the striking differences between atlases published during the Liberal, Fascist and Republican eras of Italian history are not surprising. The study explores the causes underlying these differences, presented with the help of numerous illustrations and accompanied by detailed commentary. Of particular interest, in light of the objectives of the study, is an in-depth analysis of the circumstances surrounding the growth of cartographic publishing in Italy during the Fascist era, including ties between publishing houses and the establishment. Fascist Italy, overtly intent on rising to become a regional power, did not limit itself to military development plans. It also made efforts to put together its very own cartographic arsenal, often availing itself of the services of compliant publishing houses. This literature, addressed to the general public, was designed to persuade the population of the good geographical sense in conducting an aggressive foreign policy. Most atlases published in the 1930s, for example, highlight the issue of Italy's colonies, presenting them as a homogeneous aggregate or unified body. Some atlases go so far as to include Libya, the Dodecanese archipelago, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea in a single map. These atlases, grouping countries by the colonial power that controls them while ignoring the differences that exist between them, or the fact that they do not necessarily even border on each other, clearly apply a strictly ideological and political criterion. It should be recognized however, that during the Fascist era, Italy produced maps of very high technical standards; maps that were equally, or even more sophisticated than those published in other countries. This was also due to the fact that the regime invested in cartography, staked on it, considering it a useful aid to government policy. But while the regime favoured the spread of geographic culture among the general public, it also exercised very tight control over the production of maps and atlases, especially since the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, carrying the instrumental use of cartography for propaganda purposes to extremes. Supported by the regime, Italian cartography thrived, but there was a price to be paid: mapmakers had to conform.