Barber, Peter
Bellec, Francois
Carlucci, April
Miller, Naomi
Nash, Bruce and Jim Cirigliano (Video)
Schwartz, Seymour I.

The book was derived from the exhibition called Lie of the Land: the Secret Life of Maps at the British Library, July 2001 to April 2002. The exhibition and the introduction to the book look at the complexity of portraying a three-dimensional world in two dimensions. The contents focus on a vast variety of maps, mostly European productions and subjects dating from the 15th century to WWII.

No table of contents
No index
Includes List of Items exhibited divided by the following sections:

• Drawing the line (35 items)
• Whose world is it anyway (41 items)
• Spinning the world ( 30 items)
• Take a closer look (24 items)

The List of Items for the original exhibition includes 133 numbered objects.

Each section begins with an introduction and is followed by a selected number of maps in color, many with additional details, and a commentary on the importance of that particular map, and places the map in historical context:

American Maps Annotated:
Drawing the Line: Mitchell, John. A Map of the British and French Dominions in North America. Revised ed. London: J. Mitchell, 1775.

This book presents and analyzes the significant cartographic errors that have shaped the history of the United States. Five major errors are explored, including the naming of America, the misinterpretation of Pamlico or Albermarle Sound for the Pacific Ocean, the existence of a direct Northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the misconception that California as an island, and the insertion on Lake Superior of a fictitious island that is specifically referred to in defining the boundary of the United States.

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations and Maps (67 items)
• Preface
• Chapters

1. The Greatest Misnomer of Planet Earth
2. Cinching a Corset of Convenience
3. Depicting a Desire
4. Formed Fancy Persisted in Face of Facts
5. French Fantasies
• Conclusion
• Index

This study charts the investigation of fifteenth-century city maps, including a comparison between the interpolated maps and medieval city maps showing the important breakthroughs in map making. The author attempts to give us some idea of the changing currents in the field by focusing on city maps in the context of the Renaissance and in light of the contemporary culture. An introduction begins with the impact of the Ptolemy's Geography followed by a detailed descriptive analysis of the city maps in the manuscripts of the "Geography" and, then, explores earlier forays into mapping. The study also deals with literary and documentary sources for specific cites as well as the new visualization of spatial relationships in Renaissance art and theory.

Table of Contents

• List of plates
• List of figures
• Preface
• Chapters

1. Introduction to Cartography and Representation
2. Ptolemy's Geography Rediscovered
3. the city Maps of the Urbino Codex
4. Mapmaking and Graphic Representation Before the Renaissance
5. The Rnaissance city: Culture and Cartography
6. Parallel development in Renaissance Art and Cartography
7. Conclusion

• Appendix: Transcription of Place-Names in the Urbino Codex
• Bibliography
• Index
• Index to Manuscripts

Author Bellec focuses on the first hand experiences of the dicoverers in the New World based on their own stories found in the logs and correspondence of the explorations and journeys. This richly illustrated compendium of maps, painting, and engravings are the explorers eye-witness accounts of their perception of the New World.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Book of the East Indies
• The Book of Disillusionment
• The book of Misconceptions
• Scientific Expeditions
• Photographic credits and illustrations

No Index, Bibliopgraphy or Footnotes. Few maps are shown and many of those are only details. No bibliographic citations for maps, only general descriptions.

Originally produced as a television program in 1996, the video cassette runs 47 minutes, and traces the history of maps and mapmaking. It includes segments on Roman maps, Rand McNally road maps, maps inthe World War II, how computer technology has changed mapmaking, and the global Position system. It is also closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

Maintained by Katherine R. Goodwin, Cartographic Archivist