This splendid piece of work is lavishly (though sadly not colourfully) illustrated with maps of all ages, shapes and sizes. Essentially a collection of short case studies taking us through the history of the map in all its forms over a thousand or more years, its triumph is some of the personalities behind the stories.
Garfield went to interview Patrick Moore for instance, who was sadly no longer with us by the time I got hold of the book. A chunky hardback with a lovely cover design, this feel like a volume from a bygone age, yet it recounts the 'Apple maps' fiasco that seems only to have happened yesterday.
We are taken through the potentially disastrous tale of the Mappa Mundi at Hereford Cathedral, learning that the decision to offload the little-seen map actually turned into a renaissance for the ancient plan.
A little later the history of the A to Z guides appears, something that was an essential part of travel to London (and indeed many other cities) for many decades before SatNav and Google Maps came on the scene.
Each of the chapters is constructed lightly and Garfield imparts knowledge so subtly that the reader could almost forget that this is a 'history book', perusing it is such a pleasure.
In summary, a lovely piece of work. The only downside (which is nothing to do with the author I would imagine) is that the images inside the book do not live up to the spectacular cover and bold end-papers Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment