'Journey over all the universe in a map, without the expense and fatigue of
traveling, without suffering the inconveniences of heat, cold, hunger, and
thirst.' --Miguel de Cervantes, in Don QuixoteFrom the earliest of times, maps
have fired our imaginations and helped us make sense of our world, from the
global to the very local. Head of Map Collections at the British Library,
Peter Barber has here compiled an historic and lavish atlas, charting the
progress of civilization as our knowledge of the world expanded. Simply
organized as a progression through time, The Map Book collects some 175 maps
that span four millennia - from the famed prehistoric Bedolina (Italy)
incision in rock from around 1500 B.C. to the most modern, digitally enhanced
rendering. Many of the maos are beautiful works of art in their own right.
From Europe to the Americas, Africa to Asia, north to south, there are maps of
oceans and continents charted by heroic adventurers sailing into the unknown,
as accounts spread of new discoveries, shadowy continents begin to appear n
the margins of the world, often labeled 'unknown lands.' Other maps had a more
practical use: some demarcated national boundaries or individual plots of
land; military plans depicted enemy positions; propaganda treatises showed one
country or faction at an advantage over others.So much history resides in each
map--cultural, mythological, navigational--expressing the unlimited extent of
human imagination. This is captured in the accompanying texts--mini essays by
leading map historians--that are as vivid and insightful as the maps
themselves. They make The Map Book as much a volume to be read as to be
visually admired. Read more