The Mapmakers

This history of cartography follows how people have measured and drawn the earth, from ancient geographers and the revival of Ptolemy through the ocean voyages of the Renaissance, the triangulation of national surveys, and the instruments of the theodolite and chronometer, to aerial photography and satellite mapping. Wilford attends to named surveyors, map publishers, and the political uses of borders and blank spaces. The book is a narrative of techniques and expeditions, not an atlas and not a manual for making maps.

Quarter-bound in green cloth with Modigliani paper sides cover printed in colour with a map.