Now Available Online From David Rumsey Map Collection: "First Atlas of Russia, Published in 1745"

From the David Rumsey Map Collection Blog:

The first Atlas of Russia from 1745 has been added to the online collection. It was published by the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia, expanding on the cartographic work done previously by Russian cartographer Ivan K. Kirilov. Joseph Nicolas de L’Isle, the great French astronomer, was invited by the Academy of Sciences in 1726 to come to St. Petersburg to oversee the production of the atlas, although his role and contributions to the atlas are disputed by historians. The atlas maps present the first complete national survey of the entire country at uniform scales for European and Asiatic Russia. Alexei Postnikov, author of “Russia in Maps,” says this atlas “brings together all the geographical discoveries of the early 18th century to give a fuller picture of the entire Empire than shown in the so-called Kirilov atlas. The maps were mostly based on instrumental surveys, geographical descriptions and maps compiled by the Petrine geologists and their successors.” Normally the atlas includes 20 maps; this copy is special in adding an additional 17 maps and 2 text pages, including plans of St. Petersburg and Moscow (similar to a copies at the Library of Congress, Phillips 4060 and Phillips 3109).

Read the Complete Blog Post (With Direct Links to Maps)

See Also: David Rumsey Map Collection Adds Nearly 1700 Historic Maps and Images (June, 2011)

Filed under: Digital Collections, Interactive Tools, Libraries, Maps, Resources