An Atlas of Geographical Wonders: From mountaintops to riverbeds

Author(s): Gilles Palsky; Jean-Marc Besse; Philippe Grand; Jean-Christophe Bailly

Art | History | Earth Sciences | Reference

This is the first book to catalog comparative maps and tableaux that visualize the heights and lengths of the world's mountains and rivers. Produced predominantly in the nineteenth century, these beautifully rendered maps emerged out of the tide of exploration and scientific developments in measuring techniques. Beginning with the work of explorer Alexander von Humboldt, these historic drawings reveal a world of artistic and imaginative difference. Many of them give way--and with visible joy--to the power of fantasy in a mesmerizing array of realistic and imaginary forms. Most of the maps are from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection at Stanford University.

Review: "A most welcome contribution that will appeal to those interested in the history of geography, cartography, and geographic knowledge during the nineteenth century, as well as those interested in perusing some creative attempts to visualize the geographical wonders of our world."
- Journal of Historical Geography
An Atlas of Geographical Wonders is a feast for the eyes, using its layout to good effect to show off the wonderfully reproduced images.
- The Inquisitive Biologist (UK)
An Atlas of Geographical Wonders: From Mountaintops to Riverbeds catalogs the maps, prints and tableaux that emerged from the work of 19th-century explorers. The images, most of them from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection at Stanford University, display the era's advances in scientific measuring techniques. At the same time, they also show the artists' pleasure-and sometimes bursts of fantasy-in rendering and imagining the world's mountains and rivers.
- The Wall Street Journal
Part history, part geography, AN ATLAS OF GEOGRAPHICAL WONDERS: From Mountaintops to Riverbeds illuminates the world of famous 19th-century expeditions. The authors - Jean-Christophe Bailly, Jean-Marc Besse, Philippe Grand and Gilles Palsky - have amassed drawings, maps, graphs and tableaus that trace the adventures of various explorers and show how the science of measuring altitude developed.
- The New York Times
The 156 eye-catching tableaux reproduced in this atlas are fascinating variations on a single theme, blending scientific accuracy and graphic inventiveness in fantasy landscapes that convey overarching geographic truths.
- Natural History


 


Author Biography: Gilles Palsky is a professor of geography at the University of Paris. He has published a history of statistical cartography of the nineteenth century.


Jean-Marc Besse is director of research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique ( UMR Geographie-cites).
Philippe Grand is the author of nine books of poetry and publisher of Fage editions of Lyon, France.
Jean-Christophe Bailly teaches the history of landscape formation at the Ecole d'ingenieurs paysagistes (School of Landscape Architecture), Blois, France.


Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9781616898236
  • : Princeton Architectural Press
  • : Princeton Architectural Press
  • : 0.01
  • : July 2019
  • : ---length:- '27.9'width:- '30.5'units:- Centimeters
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Gilles Palsky; Jean-Marc Besse; Philippe Grand; Jean-Christophe Bailly
  • : Hardback
  • : 1909
  • : English
  • : 911
  • : 208