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
Lipszky’s map of Pest-Buda if in 1802 the city council would have decided to support the publication of the map. Prixner was born in 1746 in Warsaw, Poland and had worked earlier in Lemberg, Vienna and Pozsony. In 1801, he setded in Pest for the purpose of engraving Lipszky’s map as evidenced by the sources. He also prepared numerous book illustrations, city views, handwriting models and charters of incorporation. The most significant pieces of his work are the Mappa generalis and the Tabula generalis. Ferenc Karacs was born in 1770 in Püspökladány and took up copper engraving already in 1781 as a student of the Debrecen reformed boarding school. In Vienna, he perfected his copper engraving skills and worked in Pest from 1795. His house also served as a focal point for contemporary writers. Map engraving was a core activity for Karacs: he produced historical maps, church districts maps and county maps as well as drawings of technical devices and copies of certificates. At the age of sixty he started to publish maps on his own, and completed the publication of 21 pages from the 24-page long Europe’s Hungarian Adas. Because of financials constraints, he was unable to complete the publication. On 12 January 1799, Lipszky informed Festetics that he will soon start to publish the map with at least one table per year, and if the publication is well received and he manages to hire appropriate individuals for the engraving, the entire map will be published in six years. Lipszky also mentioned that he would contact Prixner regarding the engraving. The copper engraver travelled to Pest to clarify the tasks and undertook the coordination of engraving works of the map. Ferenc Karacs also joined him at this time. On 20 March 1799, Lipszky contracted Prixner in terms of which Prixner will receive 600 forints for the completion of each page, which in addition to the copy drawing will also include Karacs’s payment. Prixner also undertook to arrange appropriate paper supplies. As a consequence of the delay in returning sketch maps from the counties, the engraving work was also behind schedule. Map units were only completed in 1803; therefore copper engraving of the map pages could only start in that year. On 1 December Lipszky noted that the first unit (number VIII) was already in the hands of the copper engravers, and engraving will be completed in May when the unit will be printed. It was also agreed that a new page would be completed every four months. Engraving works did not go according to the original plans. Therefore Lipszky sued Prixner for the breach of contract at the Pest city council. Disputed issues were settled by the signing of a new contract on 19 February 1804, in terms of which Prixner’s burdens were decreased significantly and he received a more favourable fee. The preserved contracts provide unique information about the engraving process and are therefore found among the documents. The contracts allow the reconstruction of the original framework of the engraving: Lipszky wished to pay 600 forints per map unit to Prixner so that this sum would include expenses as well as Karacs’s fee. The new contract contained separ447
