Note 3 — LETTER FROM ADMIRAL CORNISH TO LORD ANSON

Scots Magazine for 1763, xxv, p. 235, contains the following in regard to these plates: “They write from London, of April 21, thus. ‘There were found at the Manilas, among many other curiosities, and brought here by Col. Draper, eight copper-plates, on which are engraved a most particular map of the Philippine islands, adorned with the customs and habits of the inhabitants of those parts, which was done by order of the governor, in 1734, and dedicated to his Catholic Majesty.’—By an advertisement since inserted in the papers, some few impressions are proposed to be taken of these original copper-plates.” What is probably one of these impressions was sold recently by the firm of Henry Stevens, Son and Stiles, London, to the Library of Congress. This is the celebrated Murillo Velarde map. The map is printed in four sheets, as are also the pictures (three to a sheet) of the “customs and habits of the inhabitants,” and are so arranged that the map is in the middle with the pictures grouped on its right and left sides. The map as sold by the above firm was arranged in two large sheets, with a margin left so that the sheets could be easily joined. The whole map if pasted on one single sheet with the pictures would measure about 1170 mm. wide, and 1082–1087 mm. high. The difference in height between the two halves seems to be due to the lines not being drawn quite true on the plates, although shrinkage of paper may affect it slightly. This map is described by Pardo de Tavera in his El mapa de Filipinas del P. Murillo Velarde (Manila, 1894); and La carte des Philippines du Pere Murillo Velarde (Paris, 1898), the latter being a separate or “Extrait du Bulletin de geographie,” No. 1, 1897. Marcel reproduces several of the pictures. The map contained in the Ayer Murillo Velarde is unaccompanied by the pictures, and was engraved in 1744. We are indebted for much of this note to the courtesy of the above-named firm. ↑