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Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations by Vincent Virga
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Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations

by Vincent Virga

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107350,483 (4.67)3
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Little, Brown and Company (2007), Hardcover, 272 pages

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Tags:maps
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The highlight of course are the 202 maps included. They are a window to other times. I love maps for giving me a sense of what is and how people view it. The maps are predominantly historical. Items not found in today’s atlases, so they are very rare for me. Some people can just sit and look at artwork for hours on end. I stared at many of these maps for hours, just absorbing the people and places that made them.

(Full review at my blog) ( )
KingRat | Mar 27, 2009 |  
"Cartographia," by Vincent Virga and the Library of Congress is an amazing volume that explores in depth the development of the art of cartogtraphy, map-making, from ancient times to the present. This handsome, over-sized, volume with full color photos of beautiful and rare maps throughout the ages, is a must-have for anyone interested in history, geography or maps.

The book is arranged in sections divided by region of the world (i.e. Mediterranean, Europe, the Americas, Asia, etc). The text is extremely informative, well-written and engaging, while also very concise and focused. The map photos are absolutely breath-taking! Apparently the U.S. Library of Congress map collection contains more than 4.8 million original maps, and more than 60,000 atlases from ancient times to the present- which is absolutely incredible in and of itself!

Some of the maps and sections I found most interesting were: the early maps of the "New World," with all their interesting speculations and inaccuracies; the maps of Egypt- both by the ancient Egyptians, as well as maps made by Napoleon's early 19th century expedition and others. This magnficient volume also includes some early road and transit maps made right around the time that the national highway system was beginning to take shape across America in the mid twentieth century.

I highly, highly recommend this excellent volume- not only for the amazing maps and excellent text, but also for a sense of perspective of how maps have been shaped by human cultural perceptions of those in power throughout the ages. It is also a great book for parents with school age children, or to display as a living room, coffee table conversation piece. Pick this one up, and enjoy! ( )
peacemover | Mar 29, 2008 | 2 vote
See Dec.2, 2007 NYT Book Review section for full review. It sounds good.
kthartig | Dec 27, 2007 |  
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People/Characters
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Epigraph
Dedication
To the memory of my dear friends Susan Sontag and Victoria de los Angeles, spiritual cartographers, and to James McCourt, my carte de tendre
First words
As William Least Heat-Moon revealed in his travels across America in Blue Highways: A Journey into America, a map can be more than a guide to find one's route from one point to another.
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Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0316997668, Hardcover)


CARTOGRAPHIA offers a stunning array of 200 of the most beautiful, important, and fascinating maps in existence, from the world's largest cartographic collection, at the Library of Congress. These maps show how our idea of the world has shifted and grown over time, and each map tells its own unique story about nations, politics, and ambitions. The chosen images, with their accompanying stories, introduce the reader to an exciting new way of "reading" maps as travelogues---living history from the earliest of man's imaginings about planet earth to our current attempts at charting cyberspace.


Among the rare gems included in the book are the Waldseemuller Map of the World from 1507, the first to include the designation "America"; pages from the Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1570, considered the first modern atlas; rare maps from Africa, Asia, and Oceania that challenge traditional Western perspectives; William Faulkner's hand-drawn 1936 map of the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi; and even a map of the Human Genome. In an oversized format, with gorgeous four-color reproductions throughout, Catrographia will appeal to collectors, historians, and anyone looking for a perfect gift.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:19 -0400)

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