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LC Acquires Historic World MapThe Library of Congress has reached an agreement to purchase the only surviving copy of a map that is the first to designate the New World as “America.” Acquired for $10 million from German Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg, the map is the most expensive single item LC has ever bought. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said, “This map, giving our hemisphere its name for the first time, will be the crown jewel of the library’s already unparalleled collection of maps and atlases.” LC has made an initial payment of $500,000 for the map, and the rest will be paid as funds become available, LC spokeswoman Jill Brett said in the July 20 Washington Post. The map has been shipped to the library, and will be permanently displayed in the Jefferson Building. The 1507 map was drawn by Martin Waldseemüller, who named the New World after Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci, apparently unaware of Columbus’s prior discovery. The enormous chart, measuring 36 square feet when assembled, was the first to show America as a landmass separated from Asia by another ocean, the Pacific. Posted July 30, 2001. |
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