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Dear All:
 
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education,
University of Southern Maine, is pleased to announce the acquisition
of a major new gift: the Basel 1494 "Columbus Letter." This fine work,
containing the first printed cartographic representation of the New
World (even if Columbus had thought that he had reached Asia), has
been given to the library by Dr. Harold L. Osher and his wife, Mrs.
Peggy L. Osher.
 
The letter will be on display at the Osher Map Library (314 Forest
Ave., Portland, ME 04104) next week, Tuesday, October 15th, through
Friday, October 18th, 9am-5pm. It will then be on display as part of
the forthcoming exhibition "The Cartographic Creation of New England"
(November 6th, 1996, through April 27th, 1997).
 
To make this remarkable document even more widely available, to all
levels of student, the Osher Map Library has constructed a special WWW
site, containing complete reproduction, transcription, translation,
and a history of the diffusion of Columbus's letter across western
Europe in 1493. The address is:
 
          http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/columbus/
 
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Matthew Edney
 
Associate Professor                          (207) 780-4767
Geography/Anthropology                   fax (207) 780-5310
American & New England Studies          [log in to unmask]
 
     check it out: http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/oml/
                   http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/edney/
 
Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education
                University of Southern Maine
          314 Forest Ave., Portland, ME 04104-9301
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