Mapping Upper Canada, 1780-1967: An Annotated Bibliography of Manuscript and Printed Maps

Eric L. Swanick is the New Brunswick Legislative Librarian.

This annotated descriptive carto-bibliography contains references to
more than seven thousand Upper Canadian maps dating from 1780 to 1867.
This volume represents approximately twenty years of labor, involving
visits to more than one hundred institutions both on this continent and
abroad.

Was it worth it? It most certainly was. This is a splendid
contribution. The principal part of the book is divided into general
maps of the whole province (20 percent), maps of the region (35
percent), and cities and towns (40 percent). This core section is
supplemented by three appendixes: the first includes official township
maps, the second includes subdivision maps of towns (mostly), and the
third includes official nautical charts for the Great Lakes. All this is
set to a very fine introduction, in which Winearls discusses the project
and shares her enthusiasm for maps. The scope of the bibliography; the
organization of the bibliography; what is included—and, conversely,
what is excluded; the distinction between manuscript and printed maps:
all these and other factors are clearly articulated. Winearls goes on to
discuss the role and possible purposes for thematic maps and the
development of carto-bibliography. She is quite correct in suggesting
that further study is much needed on map-printing processes, and most
certainly much tighter definitions of “edition” and “state” are
required.

Winearls has produced a very fine carto-bibliography—a major Canadian
leap forward in this field, a model for future bibliographies, and an
example on which other carto-bibliographers can expand. Especially for
the maps cited in this volume, no longer will it hold true, as Winearls
states in her preface, that “maps [have] been ignored by all.” The
author of this exemplary work deserves our collective thanks and our
collective congratulations.