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Sources & references
Every map at patina.gallery is a public-domain original, and every fact we publish about it is checked against the cartographic literature and the institutions that hold the sheets. We restore the image; we don't invent its history. Where a claim can't be sourced, we say so rather than guess. These are the collections and reference works we rely on.
Holding institutions
- David Rumsey Map Collection ↗
- Bibliothèque nationale de France — Gallica ↗
- Boston Public Library — Leventhal Map & Education Center ↗
- Library of Congress — Geography & Map Division ↗
- The British Library — Maps ↗
- Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) ↗
- Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps ↗
Standard cartobibliographies
- Shirley, R. W. — The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472–1700
- Koeman, C. / van der Krogt, P. — Atlantes Neerlandici
- van den Broecke, M. — Ortelius Atlas Maps
- Phillips, P. L. — A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress
- Pastoureau, M. — Les Atlas français, XVIᵉ–XVIIᵉ siècles
- Poortman & Augusteijn — Kaarten in Bijbels (maps in Dutch Bibles)
- Stevens & Tree — Comparative Cartography
- Wüthrich, L. — Das druckgraphische Werk von Matthaeus Merian d. Ä.
- Espenhorst, J. — Petermann’s Planet / Bibliographia Cartographica
On accuracy
Antique maps are full of confident errors — islands that aren't there, rivers that were never charted, borders drawn to flatter a patron. Part of the pleasure is telling the real from the imagined. Our Journal documents the ones worth knowing, with citations; each map page carries its own Catalogue & provenance panel linking to the institutional record.