The Last Great Cartographic Myth - Mer de l'Ouest is the first cartobibliography in what we hope will be a series of works published in this particular electronic format. If you are reading this foreword, then you are already successfully running the cartobibliography, so there is no need to give instructions on how to run the program. But to learn how to take full advantage of the program's features, consult the Help whenever you find yourself wondering how to accomplish some particular task. The help system is accessible via the Help button on the table-of-contents window or via the Help menu on the other windows.
Cartobibliographies have been an important part of the literature on antiquarian maps. Map collectors, map dealers and students of the history of cartography have come to depend on these works, and a phrase like "Shirley #255" is instantly recognized as a reference to a particular map in a well-known cartobibliography.
Cartobibliographies have, until recently, been exclusively produced in print format, either as separate books or as issues or chapters of a periodical publication, such as the numerous cartobibliographic numbers of the Map Collectors' Circle. Since the arrival of the World Wide Web, a number of focused map collections have put images of their material on the internet, providing what can be thought of as a web-based cartobibliography. (The %W%http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/ncmaps;North Carolina Maps web site%% is one example.) The present cartobibliography falls somewhere in between the two ends of this print-web spectrum. On the one hand, the actual content - text and images - are owned by you, as a separate copy, just like a book. On the other hand, the computer-based format provides a number of features that are common to web-based publications.
There are four particular features of the current format which provide advantages over the traditional, print, format.
Better images: Printed cartobibliographies often suffer from sub-optimal images. A page is only so big, and the cost of large-size, high-resolution, color illustrations is often prohibitive. In reviews of printed cartobibliographies, poor-quality images and too few illustrations are frequently encountered complaints. Computer-based cartobibliographies are able to provide a wealth of high-quality images, which can be displayed full size, or, in some cases, even magnified to greater than full size, making it easy to read even the smallest labels engraved on a map.
Hyperlinks: Print lacks what is perhaps the best-known feature of the World Wide Web: the ability to link from one page to another. A printed cartobibliography can make references from one entry to another (for example, one map entry giving the entry number for the map that was the current map's precursor), but it takes flipping pages (and maybe keeping your finger inserted into the original spot, so that you can easily get back after consulting the other entry) to move around. With a computer-based cartobibiliography, getting from one spot to another (and back) is just a matter of a mouse click.
Indexing, searching and sorting: A print-based cartobibliography can order its entries in only one way. The most common choices are chronologically or by map-maker. Readers who need to locate a particular map by some other attribute (for example, by title), depend on the author having provided adequate additional indexes. With a computer-based cartobibliography, this is no longer an issue. The order of entries is under your control. If you want to sort the entries by title, you can do it (just double-click on the "Title" heading). Or you can sort by map-maker, and then, within each map-maker, by date (choose "Sort" from the "Options" menu). In addition, you can quickly search for any text, anywhere in the data, making it very easy to find whatever you are looking for (pick "Find" from the Search menu).
Updating: Print-based cartobibliographies are difficult and expensive to update. Bringing out new editions is beyond the financial resources of authors and publishers for all but the most successful works. Online errata sheets or addenda are less expensive, but result in information being divided between the book and the internet, a not very convenient arrangement. With computer-based works, updating is a matter of a download: It is inexpensive for the author and publisher to produce, and easy for the owner/reader to acquire. And, once updated, the reader has the the latest edition of the work in hand. The "Title Page" page lists the "updated to" date for the copy you are using. Go to %W%http://www.MapRecord.com/MerOuestUpdates.html;www.MapRecord.com/MerOuestUpdates.html%% to see if more recent updates are available.
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