David rumsey map collection. Cartouches are the elaborate decorations that frame map titles and other information about the map. They add an artistic or symbolic narrative to the maps they describe. According to map historian Edward Lynam, cartouches that frame titles first appear on Italian maps in the 16th century. They persist on maps until the middle of the 19th century, going through many stylistic changes. Below are selected cartouches from maps in our collection, beginning in 1703 and ending in 1852. This first group of three cartouches are from Guillaume de Lisle's World Atlas of 1731: Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des decouvertes que y ont ete faites; Guillaume de Lisle; 1708. Carte des Courones du Nord.
Carte de la Grece. Henry Popple's 1733 atlas Map of the British Empire in America features a cartouche remarkable for its mysterious symbolism, including a severed head of a (we assume European) man with an arrow sticking into it: L'Empire du Japon; Didier and Gilles Robert de Vaugondy; 1750. VGMaps.com: The Video Game Atlas. Geographical projects. Strange Maps.
Quikmaps: doodle on google.