Kenneth Nebenzahl was an internationally known antiquarian book- and mapseller, author, and supporter and benefactor of the field of the history of cartography,
He served on the boards of the Newberry Library, the University of Chicago, the Adler Planetarium, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and the World Wildlife Fund, and was an Emeritus Director of the American Himalayan Foundation. In the world of cartography, he was a charter member of the Chicago Map Society, served on the Steering Committee of the Philip Lee Phillips Map Society of the Library of Congress and sat on the board of Imago Mundi, Ltd. from 1978
until his death.
Nebenzahl's long association with the Newberry Library emerged from his work as an antiquarian map and book dealer. But it was far more than that. In 1965,
he and his wife, Jossy established a fund, named in honor of their late son, to support a series of lectures in the History of Cartography to be held at regular intervals at the
Newberry Library; these were the first of their kind anywhere in the world. The first Kenneth Nebenzahl, Jr., Lectures in the History of Cartography were presented in 1966 by the Keeper of the Map Room at the British Library, R. A. Skelton.
The cumulative effect of the Nebenzahl Lectures has been to re-define the field, broaden the base of its practitioners and strengthen its intellectual rigor. A direct result, since most of the lecture series became books published by the University of Chicago Press, is that that press has become the foremost publisher of scholarly books in the history of cartography.
A few months before his death the Nebenzahls made an additional generous gift to the Newberry Library to enable continuation of the lecture series. The establishment of the lectures was a major factor in the decision of Hermon Dunlap Smith, then Chair of the Newberry's Board of Trustees, to endow the foundation of the Smith Center for the History of Cartography-like the lectures, the first of its kind in the world.
Kenneth Nebenzahl was an accomplished scholar in his own right. Among his publications are four major books:
- The Atlas of the American Revolution (1974),
- Maps of the Holy Land (1986),
- Atlas of Columbus and the Great Discoveries (1990),
- Mapping the Silk Road and Beyond (2004)
Kenneth Nebenzahl was a member of the the Caxton Club, Chicago's bibliophilic society and the Grolier Club of New York.
Sources:
Remembering Kenneth Nebenzahl. Mapline. (A Publication of the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography at the Newberry Library and the Chicago Map Society). (attached).
Kenneth Nebenzahl, 'dean of American antiquarian map dealers,' has died at 92 (obituary)
The Kenneth Nebenzahl Jr. Lectures in the History of Cartography
Robert W. Karrow & Jr. James R. Akerman (2020) "Kenneth Nebenzahl (16 September 1927–29 January 2020)," Imago Mundi, 72:2, 198-200, (attached).
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Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
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