Pruskie Mapy Topograficzne DLA Wielkopolski Do 1803 Roku

The basic aim of this publication is to present the Prussian cartographic works covering Wielkopolska, prepared until 1803, that can be found in the Map Department of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. During the reign of Frederick II, three works were created connected with the names of Th. von Pfau and F. von Schmettau: "A Secret Map of Poland", a manuscript at a scale of 1: 87,500 from 1773; "A Secret Map of Poland", a copperplate engraving at a scale of 1: 87,500 from 1778; and "Schmettaus Map", a manuscript at a scale of 1: 50,000 from the years 1767-1787. The same graphic manner was employed to prepare "A Map of Southern Prussia" from 1793 as a manuscript at a scale of 1:50,000, which provided a basis for the next maps: "A Map of Southern Prussia", a manuscript at a scale of 1: 150,000 from 1794, and "A Special Map of Southern Prussia", a copperplate engraving at a scale of 1: 150,000 from the years 1802-1803. This unique set of Prussian topographic maps of Wielkopolska until 1803 is a rich source of information about the technique of the 18th-century topographers. For contemporary cartographers, they offer an opportunity of observing old ways of graphic presentation. In terms of the theory of cartographic generalisation, especially interesting is the way of changing a colourful manuscript with a northerly map orientation into a black-and-white copperplate engraving with a southerly map orientation, as well as the way of generalising a map content when reducing the scale from 1: 50,000 to 1: 150,000. The cartographic works discussed are exact and coherent representations of the geographical space of nearly the entire Wielkopolska voivodeship in the second half of the 18th century.