Have I mentioned before how much I love maps?
Oh yes, I have.
The latest exhibition at the British Library is Magnificent Maps which opened on Friday. It shows off an enormous range of maps, from a Roman era floorplan engraved on a rock through a reproduction of the Mappa Mundi (recently commissioned by the Folio Society – and a snip at just £745), through maps for political purposes and ending with some very contemporary examples, some of which were partially featured in one of two accompanying BBC Four series recently (Hurry, hurry: The last two parts of The Beauty of Maps are still on iPlayer for a few days, as are all three episodes of Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession).
In some respects, an exhibition such as this can be somewhat overwhelming. The sheer level of detail in many of these maps, be they Venice or London, can mean that you need to contemplate and examine the maps in immense detail.
Some of the larger maps have some clever interactive table-top versions of them. Projected onto a white surface, you can “magnify” areas of the maps by holding a “magnifying glass” over the map’s surface.
One particular favourite must surely be The Island which was only created in 2008 by Stephen Walter. It imagines London as an “island” and is enormously detailed across every single London borough. Click through to launch a fullscreen version and be prepared to spend ages looking at the map – at least if you’ve lived or worked in London anyway.
Elsewhere, it was interesting to see how maps have been used for political purposes over the ages. The octopus theme has been especially well used to express empire-expansion.
The exhibition is supported by a sumptuously illustrated book which I immediately bought. And you can get various postcards and prints of details from the maps.
I think that I may need to pay another visit in a few weeks just to take in some of the maps I couldn’t properly take in.
Anyway, if you’re at all interested in maps, and live somewhere vaguely close to London, I can’t recommend this exhibition highly enough.