Maps and Atlases

Detail of map from Ptolemy’s Geographiæ Libri VIII, Rome, 1490. DD.aa.10

There is a surprisingly good range of maps and atlases in the collection. The mapmaking of antiquity is contained in Ptolemy, Cosmographia, Rome, 1490. The gradual improvement of surveying standards can be seen in C. Saxton, Chartae Geographicae Omnium Comitatuum Angliae et Walliae, [London], 1579, and the many editions of G. Mercator, Atlas.

Among the 17th-century map publishers there are good holdings of the outprint of J. Blaeu of Amsterdam and Moses Pitt of London.

Several of John Rocque’s works provide details of Ireland in the 18th century.

The Fagel Collection contains over 1,600 separate sheet maps printed before 1790 which cover all the then-known areas of the world.

Ordnance Survey maps of Ireland and Great Britain are kept in the Map Library.