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Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives holds a unique collection of maps, atlases, travel literature and emigrant accounts dating from the late fifteenth through to the nineteenth and early twentieth century. These formed the basis of this project and have proved to be a significant yet overlooked resource for understanding the history of the discovery and development of the modern world, in addition to the history of cartography and the imperial use of maps. Here’s a list of items that were key to this research project:

• Bowen, Emmanuel, The large English atlas, or, A new set of maps of all the counties in England and Wales, drawn from the several surveys (London, 1777). Cardiff Rare Books Collection: Atlases Folio G1808.B6.
• Bradbury, John, Information for emigrants: being interesting selections from the travels of Mr. Bradbury through Louisiana & the Western Territory of the United States in the years 1809, 1810, 1811 (Shrewesbury, 1818). Salisbury ; Border Counties Collection WG36.4.2079.
• British Temperance Emigration Society and Savings Fund, Desgrifiad o diriogaeth Wisconsin: a rhai o’r taleithiau a’r tiriogaethau agosaf iddi, yn mharthau gorllewinol Unol Daleithiau America Bethesda, 1845. Salisbury WG37 (1845).
• Chidlaw, Benjamin Williams, Yr American : yr hwn sydd yn cynnwys nodau ar daith o Ddyffryn Ohio i Gymru, golwg ar Dalaeth Ohio; hanes sefydliadau Cymreig yn America; cyfarwyddiadau i ymofynwyr cyn y daith, ar y daith, ac yn y wlad LLanrwst, 1840. Salisbury WG4.6. C.
• Davies, Llywelyn, Hanes mor-daith y Brig Albion, Aberteifi, (Llywelyn Davies, Llywydd) gydâ Mûdolion (Emigrants,) &c. o Gaernarfon i Ogledd America : ynghyd â rhai ymddiddanion ar y daith, ac ychydig gasgliad o hanes am y wlad Caernarfon, 1820. Salisbury WG16.71. D.
• Evans, William Davies, Dros gyfanfor a chyfandir : sef hanes taith or Gymru at lanau y Mor Tawelog ac yn ol tryw brif dalaethau a thiriogaethau yr undeb Americanaidd Aberystwyth, 1883. Salisbury WG6.3.E.
• Gibson, John, Atlas minimus, or A new set of pocket maps : Of the several empires, kingdoms and states of the known world with historical extracts relative to each London, 1758. Cardiff Rare Books Collection: Atlases G1015.G4.
• Jones, Edward, Y teithiwr Americanaidd : neu gyfarwyddyd i symudwyr o Gymru i’r America : yn cynnwys enwau y lleoedd, dysgrifiad o wyneb y ddaiar, hinsawdd, cynnyrch, anifeiliaid, adeiladau, cyfleusderau, cyflogau, crefydd, &c. &c. yn y taleithiau lle y preswylia y Cymry; hefyd, hyd y teithiau i’r gwahanol leoedd, a chyfarwyddiadau ar hyd-ddynt Abersytwyth 1837. Salisbury WG4.6. J.
• Jones, J William, Hyfforddwr yr ymfudwr, yn cynnwys crynodeb o hanes taleithiau unedig America Dinbych, 1866. Salisbury ; WG4.6.J.
• Kitchin, Thomas, A general atlas, or; description at large of the whole universe being a collection of the most approved and correctest maps hitherto published. The whole comprized on sixty-two copper-plates London, 1773. Cardiff Rare Books: Atlases Folio G1015.K4.
• Morden, Robert, A mapp of England & Wales The 52 counties of England and Wales, geographically described in a pack of cards London, 1676. Cardiff Rare Books Collection: Atlases G1808.M6.
• Roberts, John, Cyfarwyddyd eglur a manwl i ddeall a defnyddio mapiau, mewn dull o ymddiddan rhwng dysgybl ac athraw Bethesda, 1851? Salisbury WG6. R.
• Roberts, Richard, Hanes taith drwy Unol Daleithiau yr America, yn y blynyddoedd 1841, 1842 : yn cynwys desgrifiad o’r Unol Daleithiau, yn nghyd â hyfforddiant i’r ymfudwr Caernarfon, 1842. Salisbury ; WG37(1842).
• Stevens, Henry Newton, Lewis Evans, his map of the Middle British Colonies in America London, 1905. Salisbury WG20.E.
• Swall, Abel, Thesaurus geographicus : A new body of geography: or, A compleat description of the earth: containing I. By way of introduction, the general doctrine of geography. … II. A description of all the known countries of the earth: … III. The principal cities and most considerable towns in the world particularly and exactly describ’d: … IV. Maps of every country of Europe, and general ones of Asia, Africa and America, fairly engraven on copper, according to the best and latest extant. And also particular draughts of the chief fortified towns of Europe. Collected with great care from the most approv’d geographers and modern travellers and discoveries, by several hands. With an alphabetical table of the names of places London, 1695. Cardiff Rare Books Collection: Atlases Folio G114.T4
• Williams, David, Dychweliad D. Wiliams, y Cymro o Mexico, trwy Unol Daleithiau America, yn 1829 Abertawy, 1830. Salisbury ; WG37(1830)
• De Wit, Frederick, Atlas Amsterdam, 1688? Cardiff Rare Books: Atlases Folio G1015.W4

For more information on how to access these, and any other useful materials in the collections, please email specialcollections@cardiff.ac.uk

In addition to Special Collections and Archives, Cardiff University Library Collections holds many useful books and articles by historians specialising in the field of early modern cartography and discovery, namely:

• Ahrens, M. O., ‘The Impact of Captain Jonathan Carver’s Maps and Journal on the 1782-1783 British-American Peace Agreement’, Imago mundi, Vol. 69:2 (2017) pp.216-232.
• Biltcliffe, Pippa, ‘Walter Crane and the Imperial Federation Map Showing the Extent of the British Empire’, Imago mundi, Vol. 57:1 (2005), pp.63-69.
• Bruckner, Martin, Early American Cartographies, (Williamsburg, 2012).
• Buisseret, David, Mapmakers’ Quest: Depicting New Worlds in Renaissance Europe, (Oxford, 2003).
• Edney, Matthew H., ‘John Mitchell’s map of North America: A Study of the Use and Publication of Maps in Eighteenth-Century England’, Imago mundi, Vol. 60:1 (2008), pp.63-85.
• Klein, Bernhard, Maps and the writing of space in early modern England and Ireland, (Basingstoke, 2001).
• Macmillan, Ken, ‘Sovereignty “More Plainly Described”: Early English Maps of North America’, The Journal of British Studies, Vol.42:4 (2003), pp.413-447
• Schmidt, Benjamin, ‘Mapping an Empire: Cartographic and Colonial Rivalry in Seventeenth-Century Dutch and English North America’, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol.54: 3, (1997), pp.549-578.
• Thomas, Norman J.W., Maps & civilization cartography in culture and society (Chicago, 3rd edition, 2007).

These can all be accessed via LibrarySearch.

For more materials on the themes covered here, try searching various keywords, such as the following and relative variants, using filters to focus your results: maps; mapping; borders; voyage; discovery; emigrant; emigration; America; Early America; American Colonies; American; Native American; Indigenous America; cartography; cartographers.