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Re: Verne's itineraries

From: Garmt de Vries <G.deVries~at~phys.uu.nl>
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:39:50 +0200 (CEST)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003, Ian Thompson wrote:

> de Jules Verne, EC Editions, Paris 1994) Hetzel used his own illustrators
> who would provide material which in a sense was independent of the text as
> far as cartographic accuracy was concerned. If I take the case of the Rayon
> Vert, the map in the first edition showing the itinerary, omits certain
> sections described in the text and includes others that from a navigational
> point of view would have been impossible. There are also unfortunate

Also, Verne often mentions a lon and lat that are incompatible with the
itinerary shown on the accompanying map. But sometimes it's Jules himself
who is to blame, messing up Greenwich and Paris meridians, or even
confusing lon and lat with each other (strange for a would-be sailor as JV
was!).

> In summary, the novels give us many clues, but for the itineraries of
> Verne's own travels we need factual evidence ( ships logs, diary notes,
> letters etc).

We could use the facts we know from letters and such alongside the parts
we guestimate from novels, and indicate the difference with colours.

> If Garmt has an electronic format in mind, then I think zoom insets would be
> necessary for areas where we have accurate local detail.

The way my VE script works is this:
I have a data file with, for each novel, the coordinates of all the points
on the itinerary. For 5 semaines, for example, it looks like:
[-6,40,L=Zanzibar,A=r,D=5] [-8,38] [-4,32] [-4,28.5] [-1,33] etc.

The script uses these data to draw the itinerary.

Once we have collections of coordinates with sufficient precision, we can
easily make zooms. The only thing you need is a blank map of the region
concerned.

> I will be happy to post the maps that I have drawn for Scotland and have
> been prepared for publication.

Please do! If they're large, you can upload them to Zvi's site, where we
can all access the files.

Best regards,
Garmt.
Received on Thu 24 Jul 2003 - 15:41:13 IDT

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