Second edition of von Karacsay's celebrated map of Montenegro, the first detailed map of the region.


Count Fedor von Karacsay's map of Montenegro is celebrated as one of the most important cartographic documents of the Balkans. Karacsay, a Hungarian military officer from an old and influential family in the Austrian Empire, was promoted to officer in charge of the military in the port of Cattaro (modern Kotor) in the Austrian province of Dalmatia, now in modern Montenegro. He rapidly gained a reputation as far more enlightened than his predecessor and, as a result, was invited to the court of Petar Petrovic-Njegos, the Vladika or leader of the Princedom-Bishoprick of Montenegro. Upon meeting, the two men reputedly struck an immediate rapport.

This was a major step forward in local diplomatic relations. Montenegro held a peculiar position in the Balkans, nominally an Ottoman province but to all intents and purposes independent. Petar and von Karacsay's burgeoning friendship established ties with Montenegro. Furthermore, von Karacsay, an expert engineer and surveyor, was also given access to maps and documents held in the archives of the court and when necessary, permission to perform or commission geographical surveys. The result was a map of hitherto unparalleled detail and accuracy of a part of the continent which had been inaccessible to European mapmakers.

The map shows the region of 19th century landlocked Montenegro marked in red, which is actually much smaller than today's country of the same name. The Austrian province of Dalmatia, now partly modern Croatia and Montenegro is marked in blue, while the neighbouring countries of Herzegovina in the north and Albania in the south are shown with less detail. In contrast, the detail in Montenegro and Dalmatia is extraordinary for the time, with a key on the lower left showing the positions of major settlements as well as forts, churches and convents.

The title of the map is in three separate languages, namely French, Serbo-Montenegrin and Ottoman Turkish. The key and the statistical table which details the population of the country are in French as are the names in the interior. The region of Albania is shown in both in Roman (European) and Ottoman script.

There were two editions of this map, the first issued in 1838 and the second published in Vienna in 1854. Both editions are extremely scarce with six examples of the first edition being located in institutions; only one example of the second edition has been located in an institution. The major difference between the two editions is the addition of the names "Montenegro, Dalmatia and Albania" onto the map in their corresponding regions on the second edition. This present example, the second edition, also has a paste down on the reverse upper right corner of the map, advertising other maps from Artaria and Company, the publisher. Original hand colour. Folded. [CEU2220]