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Loading... The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic (original 1980; edition 2000)by Alberto Manguel, Gianni Guadalupi, Graham Greenfield (Illustrator), James Cook (Contributor)
Work InformationThe Dictionary of Imaginary Places {original edition} by Alberto Manguel (1980)
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An expanded edition of a classic resource of fantastic literature serves as a guide to the imaginary realms, including Atlantis, Tolkiens' Middle Earth, and Oz, touring more than 1,200 lands. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)809.93372Literature By Topic History, description and criticism of more than two literatures By topic Other aspects Specific themes and subjects Supernatural, mythological, legendary themesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Just a few examples of entries, almost at random, may give you a flavour. Bluebeard’s Castle, for example is described as “somewhere in France; the exact location remains unknown. The castle is famed for its many riches and fine furniture, tapestries and full-length mirrors with frames of gold. Travellers – in particular female ones – should proceed with caution…” Some places are in distant lands, such as King Solomon’s Mines, “discovered by Allan Quatermain’s expedition to Kukuanaland, Africa, in 1884″, or Shangri-La, which can “only be reached on foot and visitors are infrequent.” In contrast Ruritania is “a European kingdom reached by train from Dresden” while Wonderland is “a kingdom under England, inhabited by a pack of cards and a few other creatures.”
Here you can find entries for Atlantis and Oz, Camelot and Treasure Island, Middle Earth and Erewhon, Arkham and Hyperborea, Lilliput and Gormenghast, plus a plethora of more obscure places culled from even more obscure titles. Graham Greenfield’s wonderful line drawings have an antique quality about them which only adds to the sense of strangeness and wonder, while the maps and charts by James Cook are a joy to peruse and explore. Some maps from 1980 needed revision (Narnia, for example, had some crucial omissions and misplacements), but their consistent olde-worlde look (with hachures rather than contour lines, for instance, and Renaissance-style typeface) is charming and lends character to the whole presentation.
In addition to the alphabetical listing of places, the authors include an index of authors and titles to help you cross reference. For example, if you can’t remember some of the cities visited by Marco Polo in Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities they are handily included here. Which only helps to underscore that The Dictionary of Imaginary Places is a treasure chest to dip into again and again.
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