Cities of the World: A History in Maps by Peter Whitfield
5 September 2005 :: Posted by Victoria Main
Cities of the World A History in Maps, a new British Library publication by Peter Whitfield, holds up a mirror to sixty-four of the world’s greatest cities, and is the first book of its kind to trace their historic form and special character through maps and panoramic views produced over the centuries. Drawing from the British Library’s extensive map collection, Cities of the World contains a selection of familiar places such as Rome, Paris, and New York as well as some of the more unusual cities of Isfahan, Palmanova and Karlsruhe.
These colourful reproductions range from plans of the unbuilt dream city of Azilia, designed in 1717 by Sir Robert Montgomery to be placed in the territory of Georgia, but never built, through the medieval panoramas of Jerusalem, Constantinople and Rome, to the elegant geometric plans and elevations of the eighteenth century cities, to the more familiar grid like designs of conurbations such as Oxford, Stockholm, and “new cities” like Salt Lake City and Chicago.
The fascination of all these maps is the detailed pictorial representation of the historic heart of these cities: the ancient harbour, the encircling walls, the loop of the river, and the churches, palaces and great buildings that have been added over the centuries. These architectural panoramas give us a rich perspective on their subjects which has vanished from today’s more functional town plans, and furthermore they demonstrate the uniqueness of each city’s character and spirit.
Through rich and beautiful illustrations, Cities of the World attempts to demonstrate this notion of uniqueness: for example Woensam’s 1500 map of Cologne conveys the vaunting architecture and intense commercial activity of this ancient riverside city. In contrast is the 1902 map of Saigon – a deliberately planned European city set down in equatorial Asia and a model of orderly planning (except perhaps for the “opium manufactory” in the centre of the city plan!).
As Peter Whitfield states “Cities bring together cultures and ideas. They convert human power into form, energy into civilisation. They are like brains, directing and developing civilised life, and carrying the weight and intensity of past triumphs. Oxford is so different from Rio and Boston is so different from Lhasa, that when we visit these cities we are different: we experience different emotions, we act different roles and we become mirrors of the city.”
For further information and images, contact Victoria Main at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or Victoria.Main@bl.uk
Notes for editors
- Cities of the World: A History in Maps by Peter Whitfield, is published in hardback by the British Library, 5 September 2005, price £25.00 (208 Pages, 311 X 232mm, 80 colour and 50 black and white illustrations, ISBN 0 7123 4868 9). The book is available from the British Library Bookshop (tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7735, fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7624, email: bl-bookshop@bl.uk).
- Peter Whitfield is an independent scholar and leading expert in map history and exploration. He is a former director of Stanford’s International Map Centre in London and now runs his own company publishing facsimiles of historic maps. He has written a number of books for the British Library. Most recently Astrology: A History (2001) and Sir Francis Drake (2004).