The early stages of browning may produce a pleasing tone. Extreme browning is often accompanied by embrittlement of the paper. To retard aging, maps should be protected from atmospheric pollutants, contact with cheap paper or cardboard, and from exposure to too much ultraviolet light from sunlight or fluorescent lamps. A term applied to 16th-century rectangular world maps, usually with rhumb lines. A mapmaker or geographer.
Cartouches typically enclose the title, the scale, or the imprint.
The cartouche may be a simple rectangle or oval, or may incorporate decorative elements such as scrollwork, botanical elements, gargoyles, costumed figures, appropriate scenery, and so on. Many old maps have been removed from atlases. Often such maps have a vertical fold down the center. Opening and closing the atlas often results in a weakening of the paper at the centerfold, frequently necessitating repair. Browning tends to occur at the centerfold because the paste used to hold the map in the atlas attacks the paper.