Plan of Kalisz by Andrzej Politalski from 1785 – a source edition in the Polish Historic Towns Atlas

Abstract

Abstract The plan of Kalisz by Andrzej Politalski is the oldest geometrically accurate depiction of the town. Compiled in 1785, it has survived to this day in a redrawing by Ottomar Wolle in 1878 at the scale of 1:3,000. The author discusses the process of developing the edition of Politalski’s plan for the “Kalisz” volume of the Historic Towns Atlas (HTA) and compares it with editions in other volumes. The most recent (2021) volumes developed in three different centres were chosen as comparative material: Biecz volume (Kraków); Fordon, 2nd edition (Toruń); and Racibórz (Wrocław). Each volume adopts different editorial rules, although, in general, they conform to the overarching principles of redrawing a map at the scale of 1:2,500. The differences touch on virtually all aspects (source material, scope of content, non-cartographic elements), but they are united by the aforementioned common scale and purpose. Developing the edition of Politalski’s plan was preceded by genetic analysis and the identification of filiation of its remaining copies. The original (1785) has not survived, nor has the first redrawing (1800). We only have a redrawing by Wolle (1878), which was the basis for the development of the plan for the HTA. In addition to this, we also have several other less significant versions. Politalski’s plan was georeferenced, its content was vectorised, and cartographical representation was created. The result has been put together with selected editions elaborated to date. A distinctive feature of the work on the “Kalisz” volume is the use of a redrawing of the original as a source plan, as it is – in fact – its historical edition. The author also draws attention to the issues of standardisation of data models and, consequently, of legends between particular volumes.