[ISHMap-List] Vinland Map Symposium (London, October 2015)

[Tony Campbell]

*/Preannouncement/*

VINLANDMAP SYMPOSIUM (VMS)

London

October 11-13, 2015


October 11, 2015will mark the 50th anniversary of the first publication 
of /The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation /in New Havenand Londonby 
Yale University Press in 1965.


Thesymposiumwillgatheraselectgroupofinternationalexperts and other 
interested professionals - from all sides of the argument - 
fora"brain-storm"across all the relevant fieldsofresearch, including but 
not restricted to:ink,palaeography,paper/parchment, fakes, 
wormholes,conservation,chemicalanalyses, bookbinding,cartography and 
history.

Theaimistosecureanup-to-dateassessment oftheVinland Mapandthemanuscripts 
itwas associated and/orboundwith,//the /Speculum//Historiale /and the 
Tartar Relation - thereby takingan importantstepforwardinbringing to an 
endthe debateonauthenticityand provenance,whichhas nowbeengoingon 
fornearly50years.


To this end, a potentially very important discovery was made last year 
about the /provenance/ of the manuscripts with which the Vinland Map has 
been associated, and was allegedly bound together with, /before/they 
first appeared in Londonin 1957.


It has been established that the manuscripts in question were on public 
display in Madridin 1892-93 during an event marking the 400th 
anniversary of Columbus's "discovery" of Americain 1492. This is 
documented in one of the catalogues for the /Expositión 
Histórico-Europea/, held at the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid. 
But _no map_ is mentioned in this catalogue entry.


This means that the enigma of the provenance of the 
/Speculum//Historiale /and the Tartar Relation - now kept at Yale 
University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library - may now finally be 
resolved. However, it still leaves open the questions about the 
provenance and authenticity of the Vinland Map itself.


TheVMSwillbe coordinated by Jørgen D. Siemonsen, Chair of the VMS 
Steering Committee, Copenhagen, in association with The Hakluyt Society, 
London, and Smithsonian Institution, WashingtonD.C.//The Chair designate 
of the Symposium is Tony Campbell, London, former Map Librarian of The 
British Library.


Copenhagenand London, April 14, 2014

*Please note:*

The venue and outline programme for the VMS will follow in due course, 
together with a Call for Papers on relevant topics.

Preliminary expression of interest to: Jorgen at Siemonsen.dk