The History of Cartography

The first book of volume 2 of the monumental "History of Cartography" focuses on mapping in non-Western cultures, an area of study traditionally overlooked by Western scholars. Extensive original research makes this the foremost source for defining, describing, and analyzing this vast and unexplored theater of cartographic history. Book 1 offers a critical synthesis of maps, mapmaking, and mapmakers in the Islamic world and South Asia; Book 2 (scheduled for 1993) will cover East and Southeast Asia. "[The six-volume set] is certain to be the standard reference for all subsequent scholarship. The editors ...have assembled and analyzed a vast collection of knowledge...If the first volume is an indication, the complete set will be comprehensive and judicious." --John Noble Wilford, "New York Times Book Review""As well as enlarging the mind and lifting the spiritsthrough the sheer magnitude of its endeavor, the collection delights the senses. The illustrations are exquisite: browsing fingers will instinctively alight on the sheaf of maps reproduced on stock slightly thicker than that of the text.