This unique series gets close up to some amazing areas of our world, & allows readers the opportunity to explore key countries, topographical features & cities in a way that is both engaging & entertaining. In addition, each book highlights significant human, geographical, sporting & economic information. ...

William Shakespeare`s lifetime (1564-1616) spanned the reigns of the last of the Tudors, Elizabeth I & the first of the Stuart kings, James I & the changing times & political mores of the time were reflected through his plays. This beautiful new book looks at the England in which Shakespeare worked through maps & illustrations that reveal the way that he & his contemporaries saw their land & their place in the world. It also explores the locations of his plays & looks at the possible inspirations for these & why Shakespeare would have chosen to set his stories there. ...

This unique series gets close up to some amazing areas of our world, & allows readers the opportunity to explore key countries, topographical features & cities in a way that is both engaging & entertaining. In addition, each book highlights significant human, geographical, sporting & economic information. ...

Maps have long held a fascination for travellers & would-be travellers alike. Drawing on fascinating & unique material from the British Airways archive, curator Paul Jarvis focuses on the beautiful map artwork used over nearly 100 years of history to chart our voyages through the skies
- from early adverts to twenty-first-century on-board moving maps
- & the vital maps & charts used by pilots & navigators. The progression of artistic styles used through the decades & the use of maps, technical or stylised, to present vital information or to promote the appeal of air travel is presented in striking full colour. Authorised by British Airways & with a foreword by Keith Williams, the Executive Chairman of British Airways, this book shows the enduring power of maps to spark our imagination.

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This title features over 120 large-format illustrations present detailed & fascinating wartime cartography. Key battles such as the Somme, Mons, Gallipoli, Jutland & Ypres are given extensive coverage alongside fascinating detail pieces such as airship raids & stations, communication systems, Orders of Battle, railroad routes & battlefield medical stations. The approach also provides a detailed chronological history of the conflict & will appeal to military historians & family historians alike. The Great War was so devastating
- eight million lives were lost globally
- that in its aftermath a horrified world expected it to be the final chapter in armed conflict. Mapping The First World War provides a uniquely different perspective on the `war to end all wars`. An introduction details the causes & progress of the war & is followed by over a hundred maps & charts that show the broad sweep of events, from Germany`s 1914 war goals to the final positions of the troops. There are maps depicting movements & battles as well as related documents, such as those on levels of conscription & numbers of weapons. As in all wars, maps were vital to the military organization of all sides during World War I. Before each military event there was the planning, the reconnaissance, & the conjecture as to enemy positions. After the event there would be debriefing, analysis of success & failure, & a redrawing of maps to show new troop positions & boundaries. All of the maps featured in this book have been drawn from the extensive collection held by the National Archives at Kew in west London. Providing a fascinating & unique insight into the planning & organization of military campaigns, Mapping The First World War is essential for anyone interested in military history.

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Throughout history people have sought ways in which to map the heavens. From the sources of mathematics & mythology sprang the classic star chart, the finest examples of which are both scientific documents & works of art. In this beautifully illustrated book, Peter Whitfield reveals some of the ways in which the structure of the universe has been conceived, explained & depicted. With examples ranging from the Stone Age to the Space Age
- ancient observatories, the angelic visions of Dante, images from the Copernican revolution, the rationalized heavens of Isaac Newton, & modern deep space technology
- Whitfield offers a challenging exploration of the tension between rigorous scientific knowledge & the continuing search for cause, certainty & harmony in the universe. This new edition is updated to include a wider range of stunning maps of the skies in full colour, including imagery from the latest voyages of space exploration.

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Illustrating the changing shape of the Americas as Renaissance cartographers (working from ancient & medieval sources) learned more of the New World, this collection is the third in a series produced by Scala, which showcases the core collections of the American Museum in Britain. Dr. Dallas Pratt, an American psychiatrist & collector, donated over 200 exquisitely detailed maps to the American Museum in Britain, until his death in 1994. This gift is acclaimed by map scholars as the finest private holding of pre-1600 printed world maps on this side of the Atlantic. Spurred on by thoughts of treasure
- particularly gold, silver, gems & spices
- European travellers changed the shape of the New World as they mapped the Americas from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Whereas medieval maps illustrated theology rather than geography, the Renaissance revived the classical discipline of scientifically mapping land mass. Such precision was entirely practical: only by exact measurement could the rich New World territories be claimed, plundered & ruled by its Old World conquerors.

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` Patsy, what are you going to be when you grow up? Well?` `A Royal Engineer, Daddy. A Royal Engineer!` Charles Drazin knew little about his mother`s father
- only that he had been a military surveyor who mapped great swathes of the British Empire. But when his mother was told that she was dying, it prompted recollections of her early life that she had never confided before: of the village in the west of Ireland where she had grown up, & of her father, whose death changed the life of an eight-year-old girl for ever. Soon afterwards her own death left her son to go through alone the relics of her life. They included a box of old photographs, a battered suitcase stamped with the initials of the grandfather he had never known, & the service records of Patrick`s brothers, who, like him, had all enlisted in the Royal Engineers as the nineteenth century became the twentieth. So began an extraordinary journey of discovery that took him from the age of Queen Victoria to the battlefields of the Western Front. Mapping the Past is the story of five brothers who, mapping the world, lived up to the Royal Engineers` motto of Everywhere. It is the story of Irel&, & of the Empire from which it broke away. It is the story of conflict, war & its aftermath. &, most of all, it is the story of memory, endlessly carrying the past, for better or worse, into our present & future. It is an imaginative, intimate & powerful work of history, by a writer of rare power.
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With “ Mapping the Railways” you can follow the development, decline & revival of Britain’s railways through a unique collection of old & new maps, commentaries & photographs. The story is traced from early ‘waggonways’ through the steam era to today’s diesel & electric railways. This lovely hardback book features over a hundred railway maps, with examples of almost every type of topographical map available throughout the nineteenth & twentieth centuries, including some of Stanfords own from our map-making heyday! Alongside each of the maps are a series of ‘milepost’ features which give a detailed description of key events, eras & personalities in the history of Britain’s railways. This an ideal read for lovers of trains, maps, & the past alike. ...

Follow the development, decline & revival of Britain's railways through a unique collection of old & new maps, commentaries & photographs. Charting the rich history of Britain's railways from 1819 to the present day, this fascinating compendium shows how trains have played an essential part in British life for nearly 200 years. Throughout this engaging book is a series of 'milepost' features on key events, eras & personalities in the history of Britain's railways. From the enormous role the railways played in the World Wars to modern events, like the opening of the Channel Tunnel, this extensive book shows you how British history is firmly tied to the railways. The story is traced from early 'waggonways', through the steam era to today's diesel & electric railways. Mapping the Railways will appeal to railway enthusiasts, historians & general interest readers alike. Over 100 railway maps: Historical & modern rail network maps Extracts from Ordnance Survey sheets Plans for proposed railway schemes Track diagrams & official reports Pictorial maps, posters & ephemera Cartography by Bartholomew, Airey, Bradshaw & many others Pivotal events in railway history: The nineteenth century saw the foundations laid for our modern railway network, with huge building projects constructing thousands of miles of track, bridges & tunnels Expansion slowed in the early twentieth century as competition from the car & the lorry began to bite Railways made an enormous contribution to the World Wars, then underwent massive re-equipment after nationalization Drastic change followed the ' Beeching Report' of 1963, which advocated closure of underused rail lines The modern era has seen an expansion of the network again, with the building of the Channel Tunnel & the re-opening of a significant number of lines closed under the ' Beeching axe', many as heritage railways. ...