CARTOGRAPHICAL CURIOSITIES

"Maps need not always serve a wholly geographical purpose. They may be literary, satirical, frivolous, or simply decorative. The fertile imagination of map-makers has contorted the countries of the world into human and animal shape, created allegorical lands of vice and virtue, and invented new realms for the characters of fiction to walk in. Maps have appeared in strange disguises, as jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, or political cartoons. The aim of this booklet is to draw attention to some of the more unusual maps in the British Library, whether based on genuine geographical misconceptions or the deliberate whimsy of cartographers." - from introduction