“Mapping the World: A History of Exploration” by Peter Whitfield

 

263 pages, The Folio Society

If you’ve never heard of Mapping the World: A History of Exploration by Peter Whitfield it might be because you already own New Found Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration, of which this edition is a reissue. This version, put out by The Folio Society, is stellar (as you’d might expect), printed on buckram paper with a dedicated slipcase. But it is much more than that, for while your typical exploration narrative can be a tale of adventure and endurance, a technical account of navigation and seamanship, or a political history of the overseas empires that were built up in the wake of the explorers, Whitfield took a different approach by focusing on the maps that the explorers themselves used and revealing how both the explorers and their patrons understood their expanding world and their place in it, what they were seeking and how they thought they could achieve it, and how they integrated new knowledge into their evolving world view.

The maps in Mapping the World present the geographical ideas of the time, making plain the power that came with increasing technical and geographical knowledge. They also serve as evocative and poignant reminders of the limited knowledge of these explorers, for up until very recent times (as these maps show) there have been areas of the world remaining to be explored and new found lands to discover. This lavishly illustrated book progresses chronologically, starting with the explorers of the ancient world, covering the East, the New World, the Pacific, Australia and the Modern Era. It will enrich our understanding of the voyages of discovery undertaken over the past 2000 years and will delight any map or history lover (like me). I’m very pleased with myself for renewing my Folio Society membership in whatever year this book was offered and am glad that this ornament to exploration now adorns my bookshelf.