Yesterday, CCAer of the CCA Blog reviewed: Terra Nostra 1550 – 1950: The Stories Behind Canada’s Maps by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) employee Jeffrey S. Murray. According to CCAer, Murray does not simply focus on the highlights of the LAC’s 1.5 million map holdings, but instead:

…takes a moderately successful approach to highlighting the holdings of Library and Archives Canada by looking at time periods and trends.

The book has four broad areas of focus which he entitles “Envisioning Canada,” “Perfecting Our Cities,” “Finding Our Way,” and “Scaling the Landscape.” Each of these areas is further subdivided into more specific chapters that look at a specific type of mapping or period in Canada’s cartographic history. By doing so, Murray provides a light but interesting sketch of history of mapping in Canada.

CCAer does not appear to be overly impressed with the book, nor with the fact that Murray only covers mapmaking up until 1950. (Just a guess, but perhaps the focus of the book was more on antique maps and antique mapmaking techniques? Or maybe 400 years was just a nice round number?) Still, if I had a xmas stocking, I would like this book to be in it, then I could judge for myself.

[tags]Antique Maps, Antique Map Books, Cartography, Cartographic History[/tags]

Another book on antique map collecting that appears to be an essential and excellent introduction to the world of map collecting is Francis J. Manasek’s Collecting Old Maps. From Antiquaries Manasek:

Filled with data, reference information, and hundreds of illustrations, the book will also be useful to advanced collectors, dealers, and institutional curators. It will introduce a beginner to this fascinating hobby with all the information needed to get started and make sense of many difficult aspects of collecting. Price, condition, identifying, buying and selling at auction, conservation and repair, are but some of the topics covered.

Reviewers at Amazon seem to concur.

[tags]Antique Map Collecting, Map Books[/tags]