The map is referred to as the Martellus map. It is named after its creator, the German cartographer Henricus Martellus, and is thought be have been produced in or around 1491. The only known surviving copy lives at the Beinecke Library at Yale. Being a large wall map, it is 4 by 6.5 feet, and having survived for over 500 years it is understandable that the map has seen better days. The map, which is usually on display by Beinecke’s service desk, has been relatively unexamined following a peak in interest after its acquisition in the 1960s because it is largely illegible. Now thanks to a new...
In the Stacks: Playing Cards at the Beinecke
One of the most extensive collections of playing cards ever assembled resides at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.Known as the Cary Collection, it consists of over 2600 packs of cards, 460 sheets of uncut card papers, and 150 wood blocks for printing cards. The Collection contains standard cards from 16 European countries and 6 countries in the Western Hemisphere, as well as nonstandard cards from 23 European and 3 Western Hemisphere countries, and its content represents over 500 years of cardmaking.The "nonstandard" cards include subjects like: Advertisement, Cartomancy, Education, History, Humor, and Souvenir types, many not intended...