---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 11:36:23 -0700
From: Greg Armento <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: "island of lost maps" book previewed

Hi All:

I attended an interesting program at ALA presented by Friends of
Libraries USA. It was a preview of a book to be published in September
2000 called "The Island of Lost Maps, A Story of Cartographic Crime
(Random House), by Miles Harvey, a journalist and regular contributor to
the magazine "Outside". It is literary non-fiction and chronicles the
nefarious ways of Gilbert Bland, a man who in the first half of the
1990s went to U.S. research libraries cutting out rare maps from ancient
geographic encyclopedias and atlases. He pilfered maps for the Peabody
Institute, Northwestern University, University of Washington and other
major research institutes. The work is a mix of history, adventure, and
detective genres, sort of like the Jon Krakauer "Into Thin Air" and
"Into the Wild" works.

They gave free advance galley proofs of the work so I'm in the middle of
it now. The author writes in a lively style and it is a very engaging
read focusing the role of librarians as "Keepers of the Book" the
romance of early exploration and the art of the cartographer, both
ancient and modern.

Our profession comes across very well in the book and you will recognize
the names of several colleagues throughout the work.

The scary part of course is that there are others out there with "hit
lists" of books.  Scoured from databases like World Cat, they are on the
hunt for rare prints and maps, waiting to dissect, collect and sell
those pristine copies held by us keepers of the books and maps.

--
Greg Armento
Librarian
History, Geography, Maps, Religious Studies and Philosophy
California State University, Long Beach
[log in to unmask]
562.985.4367
fax 562.985.1703