Description

The book is dedicated to the Jesuit scholar Jan Nepretski (1718-1750) and his map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1749), prepared for publication in the Nuremberg publishing house Spadkaemci Gomana. Analysis of new sources illuminates the development of cartography in the region and interaction with foreign cartographic centers.

“The book reads like an antique detective by Umberto Eco, and perhaps – someday – will become a ‘source book’ for the creation of something similar in literature or cinema.”

Aleś Kirkievič

Book review by Aleś Kirkievič “Why did Jan Nepretsky create a map of the GDL without Belovezhskaya Pushcha and what do the Jesuits have to do with it?”

Content

From the editor 3

To the reader 5

Updated map of Lithuania 7

Biography of Jan Neprecki 15

Goman and the heirs. Tobias Meyer 31

Letter from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 37

Jesuit contribution to cartography 49

Contents of Jan Nepretsky’s map 63

States of Jan Nepretsky’s map 85

Map scale 125

Conclusions 129

Appendix 133

Index of names 145

Literature 147

Summary 153