Adventures in Maps

The twenty intriguing journeys and routes featured in this book range from distances of a few miles to great adventures across land, sea, air and space. Some describe the route that a traveller followed, some are the results of exploration and others were made to show future travellers the way to go, accompanied by useful and sometimes very beautiful maps.

Sea charts bring to life the sixteenth-century adventures of Richard Hawkins sailing to South America, the surveys carried out by Captain James Cook and the historic sailing route followed by Naomi James, pioneering solo yachtswoman of the 1970s. An early strip atlas illustrates the road journeys of Daniel Defoe and America’s iconic Route 66 is shown in an incredibly detailed mid-twentieth century map. Also featured are the stories of the Arctic explorations needed to enable a Great Circle route by air over Greenland, the archaeological expeditions of David Hogarth along the Euphrates and Aurel Stein on the Silk Road, pilgrims making their way across Europe, Thomas Cook’s first package tour, the first flight from London to Manchester, and the surveys of the Moon that ultimately facilitated the first landing.

These inspirational accounts are drawn from diaries, letters, memoirs and travelogues: all illustrated with fascinating maps.

Author Biography

Debbie Hall is a senior library assistant in the Map Room at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.