Volume 7 in the Utrechtse Historisch-Cartografische Studies.
The Mapping of Africa
systematically categorizes and provides an overview of all printed maps
showing the entire African continent published from 1508 to 1700.
32 x 24 cm. Clothbound with full colour dust jacket. Richly illustrated in full colour 530 pp.
The
authors have undertaken a review of the literature, conducted an
exhaustive investigation in many major libraries and private
collections, analyzed these findings, and then compiled information on
174 distinctly separate maps of the African continent.
The Introduction
contains information about the mapping of Africa before 1508, important
world maps which include Africa, and a presentation of the major
cartographic models developed for this book.
The following are some English-language reviews of this book:
Reference and Research Book News, Incorporating
University Press Book News, February 2009, 24(1): 323:
"... an impressive resource of the maps of the continent of Africa
from earliest times up to 1700, with 174 maps featured in individual
descriptive entries. The cartobibliography is a catalog raisonné,
providing technical information on the map, its date, mapmaker, title,
image, scale, type of printing process, dimensions, notable
characteristics, description, and a lengthy discussion of publication
information. An image of each map is included, often in color, in plates
of excellent quality.".
Amazon.com web site: "As an
historian of Africa I have a practical interest in this book because it
collects in one place, more exhaustively than in any other volume
published to date, a huge range of maps documenting the growth of
knowledge about the African continent. It is the definitive text and no
library, collector of maps, or historian of Africa should be without a
copy. Moreover, it is a beautifully produced book with excellent
reproductions of the maps."
The Journal of Spatial Science, June 2008,
53(1):156-158: "The Mapping of Africa is an educational
volume and an essential book on the shelves of libraries for
cartographers, geographers and historians and indeed, at secondary and
tertiary educational institutions. Academic Libraries as well as
national libraries, especially in Africa, are encouraged to obtain this
book. The painstaking labour to analyse and record in detail the
information gleaned and possibly deduced from the 174 graphics is worthy
of the cost of the publication.
A word-limited review such as this cannot possibly do justice to such a
scholarly piece of work which is an invaluable
addition to range of publication on the history of cartography and
geographical knowledge of the past five centuries."
IMCoS Journal, Autumn 2008, Number 114:
24-25: "Prior to the publication of this monumental study,
reference works on the early maps of Africa were predominately
catalogues of collections and exhibitions with no pretensions to be
comprehensive. ... . For the collector of maps of Africa, this
remarkable volume is surely an essential reference."
The Boston Map Society Newsletter, 2007:
"... the legacy of Robinson, Tooley, Harley, and Woodward rest in good
hands. This cartobibliography will continue to prompt the
integration of past and present, even as we explore the next horizon."
Brussels International Map Collectors' Circle
Newsletter, January 2008, Number 30: 14-15: "This new
cartobibliography represents a milestone in the history of the mapping
of Africa. It will prove an invaluable companion for the collector
and an indispensable reference and research tool for the professional."
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