Cartographic representations of Valencia (Spain): from manuscript to serial reproductions

Abstract

Most of the cartographies that survived up to our times are engravings or lithographs, which in most cases reproduced the original drawing at a different scale. Unfortunately, we hardly have today the original and the reproduced copy and therefore, it is not possible to compare whether there are any differences between them or their chronology matching. In the past, the complexity and the high price of edition systems made the production of copies a difficult task. Sometimes, prints were produced noticeably later than the primitive drawing, and in consequence many updates and evident simplifications were frequently made. In the series of historical maps of the city of Valencia, there are two great examples that show the complexity of the process of transformation from the original drawing to the final copy: the map by Tomas Vicente Tosca in1704, and the Valencia City Expansion Project, by Antonino Sancho, Sebastián Monleón and Timoteo Calvo in 1858.

Keywords: Urban Cartography, Valencia, City Expansion, Geometrical Maps.