----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The following is the text of a Press Release by Yale University Press: Title: The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation. Authors: R. A. Skelton, Thomas A. Marston and George D. Painter. Foreword by Alexander O. Vietor. New Edition with an Introduction by George D. Painter and Essays by Wilcomb E. Washburn, Thomas A. Cahill and Bruce H. Kusko, and Laurence C. Witten II. Price: $45.00. ISBN: 0-300-06520-5 Publication Date: March 13, 1996 Oh dear, oh dear, Mr Thiry. It will be an eventful, if not entirely straightforward, path through life for you if you accept each time the last thing you hear. Yale has republished the good Mr Washburn's book, because he thinks the map is genuine. He also held a private symposium of like-minded people to the same effect. Publicity is not the same as proof, though it can induce a sense of well-being among the well-disposed. (I hope there is no connection between this and the story of the political candidate who inadvertently declaimed the speechwriter's instruction as part of the speech: 'Argument weak here: shout louder'.) It seems there has arisen a legitimate doubt about the validity of one of the scientific tests which had been used to argue against the genuineness of the map. This is a long way from proving that the map is genuine. It is interesting that Yale curators are keeping quiet. 'When there is nothing to be gained by saying anything ...' I don't think Yale University Press has entered the subsequent discussion either. There is another interesting theory developing from aassessment of the Vinland Map and Tartar Relation from a different angle. See Seaver's article in The Map Collector last year. There has been a lot of traffic on MAPHIST in February on the renewed interest in the Vinland Map. Why not subscribe, and ask to see the February archive file? By the way, the most straightforward way to get to handle the Vinland Map is to go into the Beinecke, look it up in the catalogue, and request it by call number to be brought to the Reading Room. That's what I did last time I wanted to check various points on the map the Tartar Relation together. I think the NPR reporter may have been running at an open door but colliding with the door frame instead. Andrew Cook India Office Records London [log in to unmask]