This January 2026 article reviews the basics of European printing and papermaking for maps, and how they evolved over the centuries. Focusing on the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, the article reviews the three main types of printing (relief, intaglio, and planographic) and papermaking (handmade laid paper, wove paper, and wood pulp paper) in relation to printed antiquarian maps.
This May 2024 article examines the origins of the U.S. Coast Survey and its first 60 years of operation. It provides an overview of the first two Superintendents of the Survey, Ferdinand Hassler and Alexander Bache, and how their leadership shaped the functions and output of the Coast Survey.
This May 2023 article gives an overview of the Lewis & Clark expedition through the western United States, with particular attention to the maps and cartographic tools they used on their journey.
This April 2021 article is by guest contributor Jim Kissko, founder of Camelot Books. This article makes the case for the first map that was lithographed and published in the United States.