A. Gavazzi · 1921
A. Gavazzi reviews the 1921 second edition of Eugenjusz Romer's Geograficzno-statystyczny Atlas Polski. He dates the first edition to 1915 and describes its wartime purpose as presenting Poland's geography to Europe without regard to contemporary political boundaries. He regards Polish national unification as a justified goal now achieved. The second edition makes few changes beyond political boundaries and adds maps VII and IX. Produced by Freytag and Berndt in Vienna, it contains a 26-page introduction and 34 maps measuring 25.5 × 30 cm without frames; the preface appears in Polish, French and English. The maps use 1910 data, which Gavazzi hopes to compare with 1920–21 data when publicly available. Coverage includes relief, geology, climate, vegetation, history, administration in 1914 and 1920, population density and growth, Polish settlement, religion, large estates, land use, crops, animals, minerals, industry and industrial classes. He notes a new population-density method without explaining it. Lacking access to the underlying sources, he cannot verify all results but expresses confidence in Romer's conscientious work. He praises the multicolour printing and precise alignment with black outlines, judging the atlas successful in content and technical execution.
Edward Maliszewski · 1921
Edward Maliszewski reviews chiefly the 1921 second edition of Eugenjusz Romer’s Geograficzno-statystyczny atlas Polski, recalling the thematic coverage of its wartime predecessor. He acknowledges the extensive work involved and the value of many plates, but challenges the retention of official statistics from the partitioning powers. He quotes Romer’s defense of using these data as the only available statistical basis, then argues that newer evidence could have supported revisions. In particular, he criticizes plate X’s depiction of the Polish population in several eastern districts. He considers the newly added plate XI more accurate for central historical Lithuania, while questioning its uniform Polish coloring in some mixed areas and its representation of Eastern Galicia. He also objects to outdated maps of Roman Catholics in the former Chełm governorate and argues that plate XV misinterprets Russian landownership statistics, recommending removal of both its maps. Further criticisms concern the inadequate and visually unclear treatment of forests, the omission of railways built since 1914 from the transport plate, and errors in place names and district-name forms. These assessments concern the second edition; the earlier edition supplies background to the review.
Stanisław Pawłowski · 1921
The notice reviews the 1921 second edition. It describes the edition as little changed, with two maps added to the existing maps and text: an administrative map of Poland showing the 1920 division into voivodeships and powiats, treaty borders with neighbouring states, and the Lithuanian and Upper Silesian borders marked as unsettled; and, judged more interesting, an original ethnographic map titled “Polacy B,” with a Polish peninsula in Lithuania and Polish islands on a Ruthenian ethnographic base for 1914–1920. The reviewer finds no fundamental changes elsewhere except the hypsometric map of Poland, which now uses Peucker’s colour scale strictly and marks the current borders; its colouring has improved. Text changes follow the political situation, and the replacement of German by English is treated as the more important novelty, opening the atlas to wider circulation in the Anglo-American world. The reviewer also stresses the atlas’s teaching value for schools and suggests that key sheets be sold separately at moderate prices.
