What is known as the Quintinus map is represented the 1c stamp (courtesy National Library, Gozo). It was the first printed map of the Maltese Islands accompanying the first printed description of Malta written by AbbE` Jean Quintin (1500-1561) published in Lyon in 1536 by Sebastian Gryphus. It is woodcut map probably drawn by Quintinus himself, who was a Chaplain of the Order of St. John, and quite conversant with the use of nautical instruments.

The lands to the north and south of Malta are depicted to indicate Malta’s position in the centre of the Mediterranean. Malta is practically round-shaped, with consequential distortions of the north-western parts. The map is rather primitive, in the style of a nautical chart, with harbours and beaches emphasized by dotting. Only a few towns and villages are depicted.

This map served as a model for several later maps, including one by Giacomo Gastaldi, and a series of siege maps by the Palombis in 1565, all of which are of the circular type, in contrast to the Lafreri of 1551 reproduced on the 12c map.

The 12c stamp shows what is probably the second printed map of Malta, produced in Rome by the celebrated Antonio Lafreri, or Antoine Lafrery, (1513-1577) in 1551. (Dr. Albert Ganado collection). It is an extremely accurate copper-engraved map’ probably based on an original survey; possibly it was derived from the map drawn by a team of commissioners send to Malta by the Order of St. John in 1524 when it had the island on offer from the Emperor Charles V. It is entitled Melita Insula, quam hodie MALTAM uocantŐ The map, on which Malta is fish-shaped, served as a prototype not only for a good number of 1565 Siege maps but also for several cartographers, including the renowned Abraham Ortelius.

It depicts the towns and villages (some of which have since disappeared), the extensive road system, and even some water courses. Small circles are used to identify seven parishes and fourteen landing places. Other features include fortified towers, the gallows at the harbour entrance, vipers and a scorpion at St. Paul’s Bay reminiscent of the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul, and rabbits on Comino. Maps of the Lafreri school are very rare, at times unique, and they are prize items in any map collection.

A fresco map of the island of Malta is reproduced on the 37c stamp (photo courtesy Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti). The fresco was executed at the Palace of the Grand Masters in Valletta by the Italian painter Matteo Perez d’Aleccio (born 1547) who worked in Italy and Spain but eventually settled in Peru` where he died around 1616. In 1575 he came to Malta as the official painter of the Order of St. John for a stay of five years. During this period he painted several canvasses for St. John, the Conventual Church of the Order, and other churches, but his magnum opus was the cycle of maps of the Great Siege of 1565 frescoed on the walls of the Grand Council Chamber in the Magistral Palace. He was praised by Gran Master Jean Levesque de la CassiËre for the beauty and perfection of his design and described as an excellent artist.

The map is captioned La Venuta Dell` Armata Turchesca A Dā 18 Maggio 1565 and depicts the arrival of the Turkish fleet and army. It is modelled on the Lafreri map of 1551 but it is much richer in toponyms of the island which d’Aleccio came to know quite well during his long sojourn. On his return to Rome d’Aleccio printed an album of engravings in 1582 reproducing his palace frescos. His pictures were re-engraved in 1631 by Anton Francesco Lucini.

The £m1.02 stamp represents a map of the island of Gozo, with Comino, Cominotto and the Marfa peninsula on Malta (courtesy National Library, Malta). It is a pen drawing made by Padre Luigi Bartolo (c. 1681-1753), a Maltese capuchin scholar. He was described as as eminent preacher, philosopher, theologian, historian, mathematician, architect and geographer. Apart from this map, he designed a detailed map of the Maltese archipelago and various prospective views of Valletta but their whereabouts are unknown. Bartolo’s map of Gozo is entitled: Carta e veduta dell`isola del gozo e comino and measures 245 x387 mm. It was supplemented by another drawing Prospettiva Del G. Castello Del Gozo. The map, like the view, is signed Fr. Aloysius Melita, Conc[ionat]or Capuccinus, invent[it] it delineavit. Both were probably commissioned by the Gozitan scholar Gianpiero Francesco Agius de Soldanis (1712-1770) as they form part of his manuscript opus Gozo Antico-Moderno e Sacro-Profano, dated 1745.

The map is orientated with the south-west to the top: the convention that north should always be at the top had not yet come into being. The eight columns along the foot contain the key to 79 place-names. Vignettes of shipping surround the island and two sea monsters complete the picture.

Bartolo’s map is one of two separates maps of Gozo made in the first half of the 18th century. The other manuscript map is extant in an Italian archive, possible made in the 1720s, which shows the projects for the fortification of Mgarr and new works beneath the Castello.

Dr. Comm. Albert Ganado M.O.M.,K.M.,LLD., B.A.