1965 VINLAND MAP, Discovery of North America - SKELTON

1965

Above is the complete title page.

First edition, third printing; contains 19 plates, three of which are folding, and 10 figures.

Concerns Viking, medieval Norsemen, and Mongol history regarding the discovery of North America.

No markings or other signs of previous ownership.

HISTORY:

The Vinland Map and text were copied around 1440 by an unknown scribe from lost earlier originals. The world map includes the Western Ocean, with representations of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland.

The Vinland manuscript text is an account written in 1247 by a friar who called himself C. de Bridia, an otherwise unidentified member of Giovanni de Plano Carpini’s mission to the Mongols from 1245 to 1247.

The Vinland Map shows an outline of the northeast portion of the North American coast, and the text includes a legend describing its discovery in about 1000 by Leif Eriksson, the Norseman from Greenland.

The map published by Yale University Press in 1965 generated much debate. Chemical analysis of the ink later suggested the map might be a forgery, but recent appraisals argue that it is indeed authentic.

BIOGRAPHY:

Raleigh Ashlin Skelton (1906-1970), English author, historian, worked for the British Museum as Superintendent of the Map Room, known for History of Cartography and The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation.

Thomas Ewart Marston (1930-2009), Connecticut author, historian, curator at Yale University Library, works include Britain’s Imperial Role in the Red Sea Area, and The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation.

George Duncan Painter (1914-2005), English author, poet and violinist, incunabulist bibliographer, Proust biographer, worked for the British Museum, works include The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation.

CONTENTS:

Foreword, by Alexander O. Vietor

List of Illustrations and Maps

1. The Manuscript: History and Description, by Thomas E. Marston

2. Facsimiles of the Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation

3. The Tartar Relation, edited with introduction, translation, and commentary by George D. Painter

4. The Vinland May, by R. A. Skelton

5. The Tartar Relation and the Vinland Map: An Interpretation, by George D. Painter

Bibliography

Indexes

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

11.75” x 9” x 1.50”

4 lbs 1 ounce

304 pages

xii + 291 + [1]

Dust-jacket:

Good condition; moderately sunned and rubbed, no significant edge chips or creases.

Book:

Red hardbound with boards that are well attached; backstrip has gilt title on darker red design, endpapers are black. Binding is tight, no loose, missing, bent or torn pages; leaves have no foxing, fading or offset.

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This book is from the collection of Donald Hawthorne, antiquarian bookseller for over 60 years.