Reisz T. Csaba: Magyarország általános térképének elkészítése a 19. század első évtizedében - Lipszky János és segítői térképészeti vállalkozásának ismertetése (Budapest, 2002)
IDEGEN NYELVŰ ÖSSZEFOGLALÓK - The Making of Hungary’s First General Map in the first Decade of the 19th Century. The Cartographic Enterprise of János Lipszky
be rules out that this permanent task “which will increase respect for the country” became too cumbersome and overburdened local officials. The work of the correctors was also hindered by the fact that the sketch map they had received was rather flawed and inaccurate. The later positive evaluation of the Lipszky-map was gready due to the self-sacrificing accurate work of county surveyors and their helpers. Counties that were prompt in their response did not have new maps made instead of correcting sketch maps, as in several cases the county map was only drawn based on Lipszky’s sketches. As a result, Lipszky’s undertaking may also be considered as the developer of county cartography. New maps in place of the original sketch were drawn by Antal Balia (Pest-Pilis-Solt), József Vertics (Békés, Csanád and Csongrád), György Jazigh (Esztergom), András Sexty (Szabolcs), György Király (Győr), József Spatsek (Torontál), János Hankus (Ugocsa), József Tóth (Bihar), Antal Gnamb (Fiume), as well as by the surveyor of Nyitra, Temes, Varasd, Pozsega, Arad, Somogy and Hont. Fejér and Turóc counties sent in printed pages from Görög’s atlas (work of György Raksányi). Out of 50 authorities, 20 (40 percent) did not find the received sketch map satisfactory. As Lipszky had drawn his sketches based on earlier plans and maps (using the same methods as those before him), the quantity of errors in maps not checked at the county level are quite obvious. The willingness or reluctance of the counties to participate and contribute in the process also demonstrates that national authorities were often powerless against them and the county administration did what it wanted, sometimes going as far as almost refusing the emperor’s order. Bearing this in mind Lipszky may be considered rather fortunate that at the instruction of the national governmental authority, sooner or later all counties performed the requested corrections. Nevertheless, it is certain that corrections were not made with identical accuracy and quality in all counties and this might have led to uneven quality in the map. A thorough assessment of these issues has finally become possible based on the rediscovered manuscript map materials. The making of the map of Transylvania Similarly to Hungarian counties, Lipszky wished to send sketch maps and settlement registers to counties in Transylvania as well. He therefore turned to the Transylvanian Gubernium on 10 October 1799, requesting that he be given permission to have the corrections done. The most interesting fact about this document is that it is the only letter written in Hungarian in Lipszky’s own handwriting. However, the Gubernium declined his request, referring to an already available four-page map of Transylvania that made new endeavours superfluous. The replies also document that Hochmeister, a publisher in Nagyszeben, intended this map for publication in 1785. The rejecting decision sent to the author, 443
