Irena ŠVEHLOVÁ

Václav Merklas, Karel Wladislaw Zap and Merklas's handy world atlas

Švehlová, I.: Václav Merklas, Karel Wladislaw Zap and Merklas's handy world atlas. Kartografické listy, 2024, 32 (2).

Abstract: In the introduction, the oldest small atlases, the so-called pocket atlases, are recalled. A detailed description is given of the Small Handy Atlas of All Parts of the Earth by Václav Merklas and Karel Wladislaw Zap, published by the Czech Matrix in 1846. The biographies of both authors are briefly presented, and their other works are also described. The importance of the atlas for the national revival and for the authors' successors is recalled. The description of the atlas highlights in particular the use of Czech geographical names and also shows the various ways of depicting the landscape in the atlas maps, mainly by means of markers and signs. The atlas lacks a marker key. Some maps are shown with a more detailed description in the map window. The article reminds both authors of the atlas and follows some of the works of assoc. prof. Ludvík Mucha; it supplements, on the basis of other sources, the information he published mainly about Václav Merklas and also about his map and atlas work.

Keywords: map, atlas, geographic (geographical) name, toponymy, political map, map scales, representation of terrain, country and territory