Nordenskiold

[J. B. Post]

With the 2013 ICHC meeting scheduled (last time I looked) to be held in Helsinki, we can expect some presentations to concern A. E. Nordenskiold. Luckily, we have Kish's book for background.

I have been questioned many times as to why I pick the publication of FACSIMILE-ATLAS as to when I mark the current period in the history of cartography as starting. It's strictly personal and arbitrary. I like how Nordenskiold ends the introduction with the hope his book will inspire more searching and the uncovering of even more maps tucked away. This is close to the scientific attitude - and he was a man of science before he was a man of maps. This choice in no way denigrates what went before nor disparages what has come after, it's just a personal marker, a choice of high points. My second choice would be the publication of the first issue of IMAGO MUNDI. I am sure some folk would like to think of the publication of the first volume of HoC as a good marker. We have a lot of good markers in our field and personal choice is a big factor in choosing one above the others.

There is little question that we live in the Space Age - but when did it begin? Some folk want to say the firing of the first liquid fueled rocket, while others pick the first sub-orbital flight and others still the launching of Sputnik. I am in the camp which starts the clock with the first human footfall on another planetary body. Couldn't have happened without all that has gone before. Prologue and preparation were necessary - or if we contnue the mammalian analogy, conception and gestation precede birth.


J. B. Post