The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime
Author:
Genres: History, Nonfiction
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: History, Nonfiction
Book Type: Paperback
Leo T. reviewed on + 1775 more book reviews
A literary book, the story is told in a leisurely manner, the protagonist being a map thief.
A few photos and the author shares a great deal about maps, libraries, and commodities traded from distant places.
In Chapter Six, the Grand Stack Room of the Peabody Library is described. Lloyd A. Brown, the librarian from 1942-1956 is lauded for his excellent 1949 'The Story of Maps.' "Brown had not been an obvious candidate to write such a volume, but he'd had a couple of advantages going for him. The first was an obsession with old map. 'If you get bitten by a flea, I guess you have to live with it,' he once joked. The second was his own library's extraordinary collection. In researching The Story of Maps, Brown had needed to consult more than five hundred books. He delighted in recounting that all but ten of them were found on the shelves of the Peabody." Mr. Brown died in 1966 but here the author portrays him as an angry ghost watching Gilbert Bland cutting maps out of the books.
However, this is much more than a true crime story. The author ruminates on the nature of librarians, details the printing of pages with copper plates, shares with readers his visit with a restoration expert, and traces the great growth in the prices brought by old maps.
Sadly, those who bought the stolen maps (dealers) were not brought to justice.
Endnotes, index.
A few photos and the author shares a great deal about maps, libraries, and commodities traded from distant places.
In Chapter Six, the Grand Stack Room of the Peabody Library is described. Lloyd A. Brown, the librarian from 1942-1956 is lauded for his excellent 1949 'The Story of Maps.' "Brown had not been an obvious candidate to write such a volume, but he'd had a couple of advantages going for him. The first was an obsession with old map. 'If you get bitten by a flea, I guess you have to live with it,' he once joked. The second was his own library's extraordinary collection. In researching The Story of Maps, Brown had needed to consult more than five hundred books. He delighted in recounting that all but ten of them were found on the shelves of the Peabody." Mr. Brown died in 1966 but here the author portrays him as an angry ghost watching Gilbert Bland cutting maps out of the books.
However, this is much more than a true crime story. The author ruminates on the nature of librarians, details the printing of pages with copper plates, shares with readers his visit with a restoration expert, and traces the great growth in the prices brought by old maps.
Sadly, those who bought the stolen maps (dealers) were not brought to justice.
Endnotes, index.
