Starting on September 1, 1998, we, Anthony Mullan and John Hébert, began systematically to identify the manuscript maps of the Luso-Hispanic world in the collections of the Library of Congress. At the end of this six-month project this publication, The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps: A Selective Guide to Manuscript Maps to 1900 in the Collections of the Library of Congress, has emerged.

The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps is a record to and a description of a body of materials, primarily maps, from the mid-sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. This publication was made possible by a Billington-Krasnoff grant that was awarded to the authors by the Madison Council of the Library of Congress. We initiated the project with a systematic survey of manuscript maps and atlases by state and by country contained in the rarity vault of the Geography and Map Division. From September 1998 through most of February 1999, the authors worked on a full-time basis on all aspects of this publication.

The Authors

Dr. John Hébert is the Chief of the Geography and Map Division. Previously, he was a Senior Specialist in Hispanic Bibliography in the Hispanic Division. He directed the Library of Congress's Quincentenary program and was curator of the exhibition, 1492: An Ongoing Voyage. He is a historian by training and began his career in the Geography and Map Division and from late 1974-1999 served as Assistant Chief, and for periods Acting Chief, of the Hispanic Division.

Mr. Anthony Mullan is a reference and a fine arts specialist in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division. He is an art historian by training, and he has had long and abiding interest in Latin American art and culture. Mr. Mullan served also as a visual research specialist for the aforementioned exhibition, 1492: An Ongoing Voyage, and contributed substantially to the companion volume by the same title that complemented the exhibition and the Library's Quincentenary endeavor.

The successful completion of this publication would not have been possible without the support and assistance of several individuals in the Geography and Map, the Hispanic, the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Manuscript Divisions as well as the Printing Office and the Madison Council. A special note of gratitude is directed to Cassy Ammen, Humanities and Social Sciences Division, who guided us through her great knowledge and kindness in the intricacies of the ProCite software package, which we used to compile the more than 1000 records, maps, found in the publication.