Notto Scalé

Maps: Where would we be without them? Not at all where we wanted to be. An Tirians rely on maps to get them to tournaments, wars, and revels, both locally and across the Kingdom. Where do all these maps come from? Many of the maps we have used and still use today were drawn by members of the Notto Scalé family from northern Italy. A large clan now spread across the known world, the Notto Scalé have an ancient and vibrant tradition of mapmaking.

The Notto Scalé family tradition is easily traced to the earliest days of mapmaking. Family tradition relates that it was Great Great Grandfather Luigi Notto Scalé who indeed made the first map. Luigi had two great loves in his life, Francesca Maria Lucretzia and the wine her father served at his inn. Luigi spent a great amount of his time at the inn, alternately admiring Francesca and the wine. and earning the odd florin guiding travelers in the local area. One day Luigi arrived at the inn to discover two separate groups in the common room. A odd assortment of pilgrims in search of local shrines and a group of soldiers from the local garrison. The pilgrims had gold to hire a guide but one of the soldiers had his eye on Francesca. Faced with a choice of love or money, Luigi became inspired and scratched the first map in the dirt outside the inn then hurried back inside. Finding this strategy earned him just as many florins with far less time away from Francesca or his wine, Luigi was in business and could afford a wife.

Early mapmaking tool

passed down in Notto Scalé family

Over the years, Luigi and Francesca's ever-growing brood experimented with maps of all kinds. At first they drew their maps in the dirt then on clay tablets which Francesca baked. Stone tablets, tree bark, skins and even paper were all used to make the maps. Older sons worked on the calligraphy, while the younger children doodled in the margins. Satisfied customers returned for more maps and unsatisfied ones became hopelessly lost.

In time, members of younger generations of Notto Scalé's moved away from the ancestral home, some never to return. (Perhaps due to less than perfect maps drawn by jealous siblings) They settled down and married into local families, continuing the fine mapmaking traditions of their forefathers even in the far reaches of the Known World..

A notable member of one of the Northern branches of the family, Sven Notto Scalé's work led Erik and Lief to Greenland and Vinland. Some reports of Sven Scalé relate that he actually imprinted his maps directly into the mind of his customer. a technique he perfected through long practice with his wife, Trilby. These sources ( All Victorian Era) corrupt the name to Sven Gallé.

Antonio Notto Scalé devised an important contribution to mapmaking while traveling with Marco Polo in the East. His designs for folded paper maps, perhaps based on Japanese origami, were, at first, unpopular. The complicated folding techniques required to store the maps lead to great frustration for the consumer. However, his designs were revived when printing reduced the cost of maps. Now the frustrated customer could afford to simply throw the map away and purchase another. Repeat business boomed.

Although the business of mapmaking was of prime importance to the Notto Scalé's, the fine points of philosophy were never neglected. Sometimes permanent splits within the family occurred over seemingly minor differences of opinion. More than one duel was fought over which color or symbol to use for cities or provinces. But perhaps the pinnacle of mapmaking philosophy was reached by Guido Notto Scalé, when he first pronounced "You can't get there from here".

The Scottish branch of the family came into commercial prominence in the last century with a series of maps marketed under the name of the local patriarch, Rand McScalé. Rand's grandson, Atlas, collected these maps and printed them in elegantly bound volumes. Their popularity continues to the present.

Early Notto Scalé map

W. W. Corrigan Collection

on loan to the Metropolitan Museum

Many maps have come to light recently bearing the signature Scale followed by a series of numbers such as 1'= 1 mile. Controversy has surrounded these discoveries. Are the Scale's related to the Notto Scalé's? Some researchers believe that these maps are produced by members of the Notto Scalé family, perhaps descended through the distaff side as the patronymic Notto has been dropped as well as the accented final é. Other Scholars argue that the Scalé name is only being used by these pretenders for name recognition value.