Atlas : A World of Maps from the British Library

A beautiful book of highlights from the British Library's map collection.

The British Library's map collection is the national cartographic collection of Britain and numbers around four million maps dating from 15th Century to the present day.  Atlas: A World of Maps from the British Library is a celebration of some of the oldest, prettiest, most significant, unusual, delightful, confusing and compelling maps from that collection.

The perfect book for map enthusiasts, this title features 100 rare and antique maps from the British Library’s collection in full-colour illustration – including Klencke Atlas, Hokusai’s Map of China, a 1682 pirate map of Guatemala and a psychedelic map of the far side of the moon. The story behind each map is revealed in a commentary by a leading expert in antiquarian maps.

Arranged as an atlas, the book has world maps at the beginning, followed in alphabetical order by maps of the continents and selected regions, and ends with maps of the oceans, the cosmos and imaginary places.

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