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Map Books

A sampling from one of my (many) bookshelves!

 

If you’re a map fanatic like me, you’re likely to be an avid reader as well. Every map tells a story, and certainly there are countless stories maps are waiting to tell!
There certainly are no shortage of books about maps, mapmaking and cartography. Though I certainly can’t list them all, I have been maintaining a catalog of titles
(in no particular order) that may be of interest for reference, inspiration, history or instruction. Click on a title to view its cover art. I hope you’ll find it useful!
Your local library should have more than a few of these available to check out. If not, browse your local bookseller or online. Enjoy!

  1. The Phantom Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders on Maps, Edward Brooke-Hitching
  2. The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands, Lewis-Jones
  3. The Map Book, Barber
  4. An Atlas of Geographical Wonders: From Mountaintops to Riverbeds, Gilles Palsky
  5. Mapping the Nation: History and Cartography in Nineteenth Century America, Susan Schulten
  6. Maps That Changed the World, Clark
  7. Map: Exploring the World, Phaidon Publishing
  8. Map Stories: The Art of Discovery, Matteoli
  9. Maps & Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society, Normal Joseph William Thrower
  10. Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations, Virga
  11. The Story of Maps: Putting the World in Perspective, Anne Rooney
  12. The Sky Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching
  13. The Atlas of a Changing Climate, Brian Buma
  14. Mapping America, Neal Asbury & Jean-Pierre Isbouts
  15. Atlas of Imagined Places: From Lilliput to Gotham City, Matt Brown & Rhys B. Davies
  16. Atlas of Cursed Places: A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations, Olivier Le Carrer
  17. Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps, Stephen J. Hornsby
  18. Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Important Border in America, Edwin Danson
  19. The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime, Harvey
  20. Mapping the World, Oleksy
  21. Maps in History, Oleksy
  22. The Longest Line on the Map: The United States, the Pan-American Highway and the Quest to Link the Americas, Eric Rutkow
  23. Atlas of Untamed Places, Chris Fitch
  24. Mapping Shakespeare: An Exploration of Shakespeare’s Worlds Through Maps, Black
  25. Great City Maps, DK Smithsonian
  26. Small Worlds: Maps and Mapmaking, Young
  27. City Atlas, Haake
  28. Archipelago: An Atlas of Imagined Islands, Huw Lewis-Jones
  29. Cartography, Field
  30. Atlas of Forgotten Places, Travis Elborough
  31. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, Dava Sobel
  32. The Ghost Map, Johnson
  33. Transit Maps of the World, Mark Ovenden
  34. Railway Maps of the World, Mark Ovenden
  35. Airline Maps: A Century of Art & Design, Mark Ovenden
  36. Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations and Design of the Metro, Mark Ovenden
  37. Explorer’s Sketchbook, Huw Lewis-Jones
  38. The Power of Geography: Ten Maps that Reveal the Future of Our World, Tim Marshall
  39. All Over the Map, Mason + Miller
  40. Historical Atlas of the North American Railroad, Hayes
  41. Birds Eye Views, Reps
  42. The History of World Trade in Maps, Philip Parker and Collins Books
  43. Sea Monsters: A Voyage Around the World’s Most Beguiling Map, Joseph Nigg
  44. How to Lie with Maps, Monmonier
  45. Prisoners of Geography: Our World Explained in 12 Simple Maps, Tim Marshall
  46. Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, Jennings
  47. On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks, Garfield
  48. The Map That Changed the World, Winchester
  49. Theater of the World: Maps That Made History, Berg and McCullough
  50. Battles That Changed History, DK Publishing
  51. Map Art Lab, Berry
  52. Maps Activity Book, Alexandra & Daniel Mizielinska
  53. The History of the Second World War in 100 Maps, Jeremy Black
  54. An Atlas of Countries That Don’t Exist, Middleton
  55. You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of Imagination, Harmon
  56. The Map As Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, Harmon
  57. From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Collection, Harzinski
  58. Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, Turchi
  59. Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities, Frank Jacobs
  60. Great Maps: The World’s Masterpieces Explored and Explained, Brotton
  61. Make Map Art: Creatively Illustrate Your World, Swindell and Patavick
  62. The Art of Illustrated Maps: A Complete Guide to Creative Mapmaking’s History, Roman
  63. The Art of the Map: An Illustrated History of Map Elements and Embellishments, Reinhartz
  64. The Art of Cartographics, Designing the Modern Map, Goodman
  65. Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps and Renaissance Maps, Van Duzer
  66. A History of the World in 12 Maps, Brotton
  67. The Golden Age of Maritime Maps, Hofmann
  68. The Mapmaker’s Art, John Goss
  69. Coast Lines: How Mapmakers Frame the World and Chart Environmental Change, Mark Monmonier
  70. All About Maps, Gingko Press
  71. Atlas of Lost Cities, De Tocqueville
  72. Atlas of Untamed Places, Fitch
  73. Mapping England, Foxell
  74. The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, Lester
  75. The Mapmaker’s Wife: The True Tale of Love, Murder and Survival in the Amazon , Whitaker
  76. Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics, James Cheshire & Oliver Uberti
  77. Atlas of the Invisible, James Cheshire & Oliver Uberti
  78. Island Dreams: Mapping an Obsession, Gavin Francis
  79. New Views: The World Mapped Like Never Before, Bonnett
  80. Cartographic Grounds: Projecting the Landscape Imaginary, Desimini
  81. The Art of Map Illustration: A Step-by-Step Artistic Exploration of Contemporary Cartography and Mapmaking, Hancock
  82. How to Make Hand-Drawn Maps, Cann
  83. How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps: Step-by-Step Cartography for Gamers and Fans, Blando
  84. Cartographer’s Toolkit: Colors, Typography and Patterns, Peterson
  85. Cartography: Thematic Map Design, Dent, Torguson and Hodler
  86. Plotted: A Literary Atlas, DeGraff
  87. The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime, Harvey
  88. The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps, Blanding
  89. A History of America in 100 Maps, Schulten
  90. Atlas: A World of Maps from the British Library, Harper
  91. Lost States: True Stories of States That Never Made It, Trinklein