Printed Maps of Lancashire - The First Two Hundred Years, by Ian Saunders

From the rear side cover: Maps - and especially early printed maps - have an undeniable appeal. Visually complex, they are redolent of both time and place, capturing the essence of looking at and understanding a specific geography in a specific era and context.

Printed Maps of Lancashire: the first two hundred years is packed with information about the physical creation of maps from the mid-sixteenth to late eighteenth centuries. It encompasses the entire historic County Palatine of Lancaster, which stretched from the southern Lake District to modern Cheshire, taking in both Manchester and Liverpool. A huge variety oflandscape is represented in the maps: bustling cities, small towns and villages, the scenic Western Pennines, verdant plains and beautiful coastline such as Morecambe Bay.

Ian Saunders has collected maps for thirty years, and enthusiasm for his topic, and for his adopted county, shines through his discussion of the role of maps, methods of surveying and the evolution of the peculiarly English form known as the county map. Along the way there are intriguing diversions - maps on playing cards, maps in magazines, maps in atlases - and the author shares many fascinating observations about the men who created maps, those who borrowed (or stole) their work, and some of the people who owned the finished products. Harold Whitaker's seminal work A Descriptive List of the Printed Maps of Lancashire 1577-1900 (Chetham Society, 1938) is fully updated through the text and appendices. This richly illustrated book is a must for map collectors and for all who have a love of the historic county of Lancashire.

Condition of the book is generally very good. The covers have one or two very minor scuffs but are clean and bright, the spine is intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.