4th International Conference on the History of Cartography
21-24 September 1971 — Edinburgh

Held at the University of Edinburgh in honor of the 400th anniversary of the birth of Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638). This anniversary was also evidently taken as the “theme” of the conference(?). Opening of the conference was by the Marquess of Linlithgow, at whose home, Hopetoun House, an exhibition was also held. Main coordinators were A. Young, J. Bartholomew, I. Adams, I. Kinniburgh, R. Elton. Attendance was “100 delegates” per one source, “over 100” according to another, from 13 countries. Participation cost £8, including excursions, and the cost of room and board at the university’s Pollock Halls of Residence was £2.80 per day.

There were exhibitions at the National Library of Scotland (rare maps), and at the Royal Scottish Museum (historical instruments), and also a reception and exhibition at Hopetoun House. There were also visits to Blair Castle, home of Duke Atholl, whose map collection was viewed, as well as to the Scottish Record Office and to John Bartholomew & Son map publishing house.

There were 17 papers, and full texts were distributed, evidently some (all?) in both French and English. Of them, five were published in full in Imago Mundi, 26 (1972) (Destombes, Koeman, Schilder, Stone, Wellens), and another five in abstract (Andrews, Guthorn, Marshall, Satzinger, Taylor & Litt). The report in the RGS’s Geographical Journal (see below) stated, “Copies of all papers issued are in the Society’s Library.”

Papers 4th ICHC

1. Adams, I. H. John Ainslie, Map-Maker. (13pp)
2. Andrews, J. H. An Elizabethan Surveyor and his Cartographic Progeny. (22pp) (The Geographical Journal gives as “Some Derivatives of Robert Lythe’s Survey of Ireland” — same paper?)
3. Campbell, T. A Census of Willem Blaeu’s 68-centimetre Globes. (11pp)
4. Destombes, Marcel. A New Copy of the Map of the British Isles by Gerard Mercator, 1564. (8pp)
5. Fairclough, R. H. Sketches of the Roads in Scotland 1785. The Manuscript Roadbook of George Taylor. (9pp)
6. Guthorn, P. J. New Jersey’s Scots Cartographers John Reid and George Keith. (2pp)
7. Koeman, Cornelis. Life and Works of W. J. Blaeu. (14pp)
8. Marshall, D. W. Research Perspectives on John Montresor and the British Engineers in America, 1755-1783. (12pp)
9. Ristow, Walter William. Cartography of the Battle of Bunker Hill. (14pp)
10. Satzinger, Walter. Cartes de villes de l’Allemagne du Sud aux 16e et 17e siècles. (2pp)
11. Schilder, Günter. New Cartographical Contributions to the Coastal Exploration of Australia in the Course of the 17th Century. (9pp)
12. Stone, J. C. Origins and Sources of the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland with Particular Reference to Extima Scotiae (Atlas novus, 1654). (16pp)
13. Taylor, A. B., and D. Litt. Alexander Lindsay’s Rutter of the Scottish Seas, circa 1540. (5pp)
14. Wellens, R. L’intérêt des inventaires des joyaux, vaisselle et effets des souverains des Pays-Bas pour l’histoire de la cartographie sous le regne de Charles Quint. (10pp)
15. Woodward, D. Seventeenth-Century Copper Engraving for Maps. (8pp).
    In Geographical Journal report, two more are registered, but without the names of authors given:
16. Early English Chartmakers.
17. The Materials of Maps and Globes.

Note

Besides the papers, two publications were prepared for this ICHC: The Mapping of Scotland: A Booklet of Facsimile Reproductions from Some of the Earliest Known Maps to those of the 19th Century, (Edinburgh, 1971) (32pp); and: Adams, I. H., The Mapping of a Scottish Estate (Edinburgh, 1971) (60pp).

References

Geographical Journal 137 (1971): 587 (anon.)
Cartographic Journal 9 (1972): 12-13 (Tyacke)(Includes a photo of the opening session, the earliest published photo of an ICHC that I know of.)
Kartographische Nachrichten 22 (1972): 27 (Satzinger).
See also a pre-conference notice in: Society of University Cartographers, Bulletin 6,1 (Sept. 1971): 114.
Coverage rather poorer than for 2nd and 3rd ICHCs, although I may have missed something.