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| MAPS THAT MADE HISTORY : The Influential, the Eccentric, & the Sublime [Lez Smart] Few people can resist the appeal of old maps and plans. Even in these days of disposable mapping-from satellite navigation to customised road directions at the click of a mouse -- the historical map continues to present a unique perspective on our changing world. Here we explore 25 glorious examples. The emphasis is on the story behind the map: what it reveals about its creator and users, from the first explorers to the railway builders. This thought-provoking collection features maps that chart societies as well as land, sea, and skies; maps that have influenced and inspired; and perhaps most revealing of all, maps that misrepresent. Includes the following intriguing historical maps: Ptolemy's Ancient World; The Psalter; The Pilgrimage Route to Canterbury; The Peutinger Table of Roman Roads; Chertsey Abbey on the Thames; Tenochtitlán: Cortés and the Aztecs; The Coast of West Africa; Virginia: John Smith and Pocahontas; Southern England from the 'Poly Olbion'; The Lion Map of Belgium; The Moluccan Spice Islands; The Mythical Island of California; The Garden of Eden; The Battle of Culloden; The Red Line Map of North America; Cook and the East Coast of Australia; The Battle of Waterloo; The Great River of Australia; The American Civil War; The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India; Booths Poverty Map of London; The Battle of Mons; Highways of the British Empire; The London Tube; D-Day. { 192pp, 200x270mm, January 2005; HB, £30.00, 1550025627:9781550025620 , Dundurn Press } |
| PUTTING 'AMERICA' ON THE MAP : The Story of the Most Important Graphic Document in the History of the United States [Seymour I Schwartz MD] In 1507, a German cartographer working in Saint Die, in the Duchy of Lorraine, created a world map that, for the first time, included the continental landmasses in the Western Hemisphere, discovered within the 15 previous years. He inserted the name "America" on the southern continent, honouring Amerigo Vespucci, who had erroneously been credited with setting foot on South American soil before Christopher Columbus. With the aid of the recently invented printing press, the name "America" became the accepted designation of continental land in the New World. Over the centuries there has been a heated controversy concerning the naming of America. The map, which was considered to be the "Holy Grail" of American cartography, was lost for four centuries before it was found in 1901 in a German castle. After many attempts to bring the map to the land that it named, it was finally purchased by the Library of Congress for the astounding sum of $10 million dollars -- the largest amount the library ever paid for a single acquisition. In a colourful narrative that reads like a good mystery, Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz brings to life the amazing history of America's "baptismal certificate". Since its creation the Waldseemüller World Map of 1507 has been surrounded by many intrigues and four major controversies. How did America come to be assigned that name and was it an appropriate choice? How can the revolutionary geographic representations depicted on the map be explained in the light of the fact that they preceded the known discoveries? What is the actual date that can be ascribed to the map now in the possession of the Library of Congress? Is the Waldseemüller World Map of 1507 the first to depict continental land in the New World and the first to bear the name "America"? Schwartz's compelling story, which includes many amazing twists and turns, also features cameo appearances by Alexander von Humboldt, Washington Irving, Frederic Chopin, George Sand, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ogden Nash, J. Pierpont Morgan, Paul Mellon, and German Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schroeder. REVIEW: "...to be commended not only for the effort, but also because it is a readable document that deals with a desirable explanation of the map’s origin, characteristics, and properties. The text is complemented by a number of color photographs showing maps, script, and individuals of major importance, including Vespucci. The bibliography is most helpful for further reading and understanding...Recommended." -- Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, August 2008 { 400pp, 155x230mm, August 2007; HB, £19.99, 1591025133:9781591025139 , Prometheus Books } |