Roanoke Colonies Research Newsletter
Volume 3.2 (May 1996)

New Map Journal Founded: Mercator's World
by Jennifer Lindsey, Editor, Mercator's World

Mercator's World is a new magazine for collectors and enthusiasts of maps, atlases, globes, and charts. Launched in February, 1996, by Aster Publishing Corporation, in Eugene, Oregon, the four-color eighty-one-hundred-page publication examines all aspects of cartography, geography, and exploration-both historical and current-and seeks to educate as well as enlighten and entertain.

President and publisher Edward D. Aster has seventeen years experience identifying, creating, and designing magazines to serve a particular niche. Mr. Aster has developed more than fifteen publications serving a variety of disciplines and industries. As a long-time collector and admirer of maps, he now turns to a topic close to his heart.

Unlike other magazines in this realm, Mercator's World is not solely for dealers, collectors, or scholars. Our goal is to bring the world of maps, globes, and charts-in all their fascination and wonder-to the much wider population of those who have long appreciated their history, art, and technology.

To help us in this mission, Mercator's World has assembled an Editorial Advisory Board of experts who can advise and direct the magazine. To date, these members include: David Bannister (co-author of Antique Maps and organizer of the Bonnington Map Fair in London), Robert L. Clancy (author of The Mapping of Terra Australis and International Secretary for the International Map Collector's society), Ronald E. Grim (Specialist in Cartographic History, U.S. Library of Congress), James Hess (owner of Heritage Map Museum in Pennsylvania), Mark Monmonier (Professor of Geography at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University), David Woodward (editor of History of Cartography and other books and Arthur H. Robinson Professor of Geography), and Eva J. Wajntraub (the Israeli Map Collectors' Society).

In late April, after publishing two issues of Mercator's World, Aster Publishing Corporation also acquired The Map Collector, the quarterly magazine published for 18 years by Valerie G. Scott in Hertfordshire, UK. This highly respected and widely recognized publication will be incorporated into Mercator's World beginning with the third issue, to provide an even broader coverage of the world of antiquarian maps, adding to our lively mix of old and new. Ms. Scott joins the Mercator's World team as a Consulting Editor , serving as our eyes and ears in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

Articles published in the first two issues of Mercator's World include:

Mythical Seas: Europe's Search for the Northwest Passage
Cartocontroversey: Maps as Weapons of Persuasions and Deception
Splitting the New World by Papal Decree
How Much is This Map Worth?
Mapping the Great Southern Continent-Before Its Discovery
Face of Armageddon: Britain's Topographic Maps in the Great War
Your Map's in the Mail: Cartophilately

Along with regular columns:

Cybersites: Navigating the Net for Information on Maps, etc.
Collectibles: Descriptions, Histories, and Photos of Fine Collections
Auction Block: The Latest Information on Maps, Globes, etc., Sold at Auction
News: Keeping Readers in Touch with the Latest News and Views

Noteworthy contributors to Mercator's World include well-known authors and scholars Thomas Suarez, Robert Clancy, Michael Layland, Peter van der Krogt, and Mark Monmonier, among others. Our international readership is 20,000 and growing, with distribution through paid subscriptions, specialty retail outlets, map stores, museum gift shops, antique stores, and regular bookstores. The magazine is being published six times in 1996 and will likely increase to nine times in 1997. Subscription rates for one year (six issues) are: $39.95 in the United States, $49.94 in Canada, and $59.95 for the rest of the world.

For more information on the editorial content of the publication, or to suggest an article topic, contact Jennifer Lindsey, Editor, 845 Willamette St., Eugene, OR 97401, e-mail Jlindsey@mercatormag.com; telephone (531) 345-3800; fax (541) 302-9872.

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