The word “Library” jumped out at me of course. Then the word “Lost.” But lost what? The next word of the title was obscured by the library label. Intrigued, I pulled the oversized book from the new nonfiction shelf of my local library. Immediately I knew I would check it out. The missing word was “Maps.” The Library of Lost Maps by James Cheshire with the enigmatic subtitle An archive of a world in progress. That was full of promise. I’ve always loved old maps. I have a collection of books of old maps, framed prints of old maps, and a few originals. I even chose an image from the 1606 Hondius map of Virginia and Florida for my website logo.

Geography professor James Cheshire’s book is about his discovery of a forgotten archive of old maps in the basement of University College London. Here he describes his first visit as he followed the scent of aging paper swirling around the basement:

I followed this distinctive aroma as it took me to the right of the dingy lecture theatre I’d taught in many times, past the damp of a leaky water fountain and on into an unpromising corridor. On I went until I reached a scruffy turquoise door with the words “Map Room” affixed to it. I pushed at the handle, and, to my amazement, entered an Aladdin’s cave of cartographic treasures.

Inside he found 440 wooden drawers and tens of glass-fronted cabinets holding thousands of maps and hundreds of atlases left virtually untouched since the retirement of curator Anne Oxenham twenty years before. It was once a busy room with university professors and students using the maps for their lectures and assignments. Now digital maps have replaced them and paper map archives the world over have fallen silent.

Continue reading “The Library of Lost…?” →