The Library of Lost Maps: An Archive of a World in Progress

At first, we ask, with cell phones to show us our route to the restaurant, the doctor’s office, our vacation destination, why do we need printed maps and atlases? Cartographer and map teacher James Cheshire fills The Library of Lost Maps with multiple reasons. Maps serve purposes we may not have realized and considered.

Political maps, for example, show us the path Hitler chose for World War II, and the path of Europeans a century earlier, swarming over Africa, drawing borders, and filling vast empty areas to demonstrate their colonial hegemony.

Accurate information about the properties of the physical world was not available in the past, with a couple of clicks, as it is today. The Society for Useful Knowledge, known as SPUK, was founded in the late 1820s and produced high-quality maps sold individually by monthly subscription. The initial plan to produce 16 maps rose to a total of 224 maps, including 6 maps of the stars. Cheshire describes how early map printing involved making plates from meticulously hand-drawn maps, then etching them before they were individually printed. In addition to maps, Cheshire introduces the creators of early maps and the impact of their work.

The Library of Lost Maps is housed in University College London, the only non-religious
uncesity when founded in 1826.