MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

For folks like me, it fulfils our immediate desire to locate far flung places that we probably would never get the chance to go to in this lifetime (if our salary are anything to go by!), but also places we have had the pleasure of visiting.

For Australian Geoff Edwards, 50 plus, or Mr MapMan, as I'd like to call this quirky cartophile, there's a diversity of delights that can be derived even from one single image. Just as it's easy to find pleasure in the accuracy of the maps, it's also so when it's inaccurate. "There have been maps where towns have been inaccurately placed, coastlines wrongly chartered, and names strangely spelt," says Edwards, a geologist with an oil company that presently enjoys production-sharing contracts with Petronas.

Scrambling for one of his collections, something from the 1500s, he points out: "If you notice, many of the early examples have exquisite sea monsters or other fanciful Medieval creatures, or even distorted images drawn in to populate the empty areas of maps of far flung places that were obviously outside of the European experience."

In fact, some of his maps are rather hilarious, particularly those of SE Asia as Europeans back in the 1600s or so. I scan the precious piece of slightly gnarled paper for Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur to be more precise. I can't find it. Instead, a huge vertically placed 'Malacca' dominates the length from what would today be Perak down to Johor Baru!

"Oh, that's not unusual!" grins the MapMan. "KL didn't exist for them in those days. Malacca did as it used to be a very important port. See how Kedah was spelt with a Q, and Singapore, though here, was not properly marked. It was only around the 1860s or so that they started getting things right."

Edwards' fascination with old maps dates back to 1984, when he was living in Turkey. "A Dutch friend of mine, who was also a geologist, showed me a map he had bought in Holland, of Turkey circa 1650. It looked really nice and my interest was immediately piqued," he says.

When he moved back to Asia in 1985, he stumbled upon a map shop in Singapore, Antiques of the Orient, got friendly with its English proprietor and his local partner, and before you know it, he was purchasing maps from them," ...and getting them at very high prices," he recalls, chuckling.

His first map, for which he forked out US$50, was a Catelain 1719-21 of Turkey. He thought it slightly pricey considering it wasn't in great condition, but today, Edwards no longer blinks at price tags of US$15,000.

In fact, the most expensive purchase to date is an original Porto Lano - a manuscript sea chart used by mariners around the 14th to 16th - that he paid £20,000 for.

"I got it at Sotheby's in 1994, at a time when I didn't have much spare cash, so that wasn't very clever!" he says. "In fact, I've a few Porto Lanos which are on sheepskin, from the 1740s, all bought at auctions in Sotheby's, London. This is where the majority of the very rare material becomes available; here and at Christie's in the US."

According to him, you can also try your luck via Internet auctions by keying in antiquarian maps for example. But be warned - if you are not so au fait, you may end up with fakes.

"There are several things to look out for, such as plate marks, imprints usually found on the border of the map proper, watermarks on the paper and so on," reminds Edwards. "These days you can actually do the plate mark indentation yourself just by using a press. It's surprising that there are very few fakes around considering that one map can actually fetch between US$4,000-US$5,000.

"I'd been caught with one print that was not the real deal and only recognised it to be so after I ad talked to my restorer. He informed me that it was a later reproduction of the original."

Today, Edwards is of course, wiser. "The only time when I am in doubt is when the problem relates to restoration where parts of the map have been expertly restored or actually replaced. Sometimes parts are missing and they skillfully go in and hand do it again."

According to the Sydney-born geologist, world maps are becoming more and more scare. Typically, when atlases were produced, there would be only one or two world maps in an atlas. "It may have 100 maps - country maps - and only ONE world map. But the latter is more popular," he explains. "Sometimes it is difficult for certain maps to be sold, depending on the country. Take for example, maps of France. There are so many of these that people no longer coveted them. It has lost its value."

There are several factors that influence the price of old maps like rarity, age, historical importance, decorative value (for example, details like cartouches, vignettes and sea monsters), the colouring, the overall condition of the map and even the paper it's printed on.

"You can get degradation on maps of such vintage," warns Edwards. "The paper itself is effectively acid-free but it's the paint. The colours used are generally good and retain their brilliance. But the greens, which they tend to use to outline the borders of countries, can cause some trouble; they were made from verdigris, which is quite acidic, and in time, it can rot through the paper to the extent of disintegration. This occurs mainly with maps coloured before the 1700s."

Maintenance of old maps, particularly in our humid climes, can also be very trickey. They don't survive too readily in a tropical environment, which is why they need to be kept 'cool'. Says Edwards with a grin: "That's why I have a constant see-saw with my high electricity bills. I need to have the air con in order to protect my paper products."

Will he be adding any more maps to the existing collection?

He shakes his head vigorously. "Oh, I don't want to add any more. No more, I need to stop!"

But just a little secret: If there's one vintage Mr Mapman would love to lay his hands on, it's a very rare world map - a sphere, the core of the earth beauty - which he turned down in 1995 when a dealer friend offered it to him for US$20,000.

It's now worth US$100,000.. so who's kicking himself then?