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Product Identifiers

PublisherBritish Library, T.H.E.

ISBN-100712358900

ISBN-139780712358903

eBay Product ID (ePID)143542825

Product Key Features

Number of Pages144 Pages

Publication NameSea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps

LanguageEnglish

SubjectCartography, Animals / Marine Life, Historical Geography, Earth Sciences / Geography, History / General

Publication Year2013

TypeTextbook

AuthorChet Van Duzer

Subject AreaNature, Art, Technology & Engineering, Science, History

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight0 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width8 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2012-398484

Dewey Edition23

Reviews[An] authoritative, wide-ranging study. . . . Sumptuously produced. . . . The author is an encyclopedic scholar of historical cartography, with a magisterial command of comparative knowledge and scrupulous attentiveness to detail., [B]eautifully illustrated. . . . People interested in maps, cryptozoology, folklore, and arcane zoology and zoological history will want to check it out., Lavish. . . . The sea monsters depicted throughout Van Duzer's beautifully illustrated British Library volume strike absolute wonder in the reader today, and the author provides valuable insight into what medieval and Renaissance viewers must have made of these sinewy, silly, horned, fanged, and fearsome creatures. . . . Van Duzer reminds scholars that it sometimes helps to let the eye wander to the margins, to get a different historical perspective of medieval perspectives of their surrounding seas. This critical analysis of a hitherto ignored cartographic trope adds much-needed depth to our understanding of medieval and later perceptions of the sea and its mysterious creatures., [An] authoritative, wide-ranging study. . . . Sumptuosly produced. . . . The author is an encyclopedic scholar of historical cartography, with a magisterial command of comparative knowledge and scrupulous attentiveness to detail., A truly charming book, and one that will turbocharge the imagination of anyone staring over the side of a boat at a bunch of waves that could hide just about anything., The book features striking images of maritime monsters taken from maps of the ocean made between the 10th and 16th centuries., Duzer offers a sublime examination of the genealogy of individual sea monsters and the artistic techniques of placing them on maps. . . . The author and the British Library both deserve great praise for creating such a visually stunning work., In the large-format, hardcover that this thing is, it's basically as near to the ultimate nerd-level coffee table book that you could ever want, and I love it for that., Full of charming stories and cartographic detail, Chet Van Duzer's book is an entertaining and rewarding book for general readers and a well-researched reference for scholars., Medieval and Renaissance map scholar, Chet Van Duzer, backed by the British Library as publisher, have teamed up to produce a spectacular new book, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps , a topic, oddly enough, for which there is little by way of real precedent. This book will become the sea monster authority by default. Although this beautiful book is a product of academic quality, it is very readable and accessible and requires no prior knowledge.

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal912.09

Table Of ContentAcknowledgements Introduction Classical Antecedents The Earliest Medieval Maps with Sea Monsters: Beatus Mappaemundi "Let the Waters Bring Forth Abundantly": Sea Monsters in the Creation Sea Monsters in the Harbor of Brindisi An Imagined Mappamundi with Sea Monsters Sea Monsters on the Ceiling Giant Sea Monsters on Two Small Mappaemundi "A Vast Sea Where There is Nothing But the Abode of Monsters" Two Monumental Mappaemundi with Few Sea Monsters Three Sea Monsters Battling in the Atlantic Pictorial Excursus: The Dangers of Sea Monsters Sea Monsters on Nautical Charts: Giant Octopuses, Sirens, Sharks How to Buy a Sea Monster Whaling Between Myth and Reality A Nest of Sea Monsters at the Bottom of the World Whales as Big as Mountains Terrifying Monsters in the Indian Ocean A Skeptic about Sea Monsters: Fra Mauro Pictorial Excursus: Whimsical Sea Monsters Invented Sea Monsters in the Circumfluent Ocean The Manuscript with the Most Sea Monsters Sea Monsters in Printed Editions of Ptolemy The Sea Monsters of the Earliest Surviving Terrestrial Globe The Sea Monsters of Waldseemüller's Map of 1507 and Schöner's Globe of 1515 Lighting a Fire on a Whale's Back Pictorial Excursus: The Cartographic Career of the Walrus The Debut of the Sea Monsters of the Renaissance Olaus Magnus and the Most Important Sea Monsters of the Sixteenth Century Mercator's Globe of 1541: The Influence of Olaus Magnus The Ulpius Globe: Sea Monsters Before Their Time The Monster that Stops Ships in Their Tracks Pictorial Excursus: More Whimsical Sea Monsters From Sea Dragons to a Sawfish: The Rylands Library Map of 1546 Evidence of a Sea Monster Specialist The Curious Career of the Flying Turtle The Eclecticism of Giacomo Gastaldi The Sea Monsters of Gerard Mercator's Great Map of 1569 Sea Monsters Cavorting Among the Mediterranean Isles The Sea Monsters Surrounding Iceland in the First Atlas A Haunting Sea Monster Reappears Whales Fantastic and Realistic at the End of the Sixteenth Century Two New World Sea Monsters Conclusion Endnotes Index Index of Manuscripts

SynopsisThe sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps, whether swimming vigorously, gamboling amid the waves, attacking ships, or simply displaying themselves for our appreciation, are one of the most visually engaging elements on these maps, and yet they have never been carefully studied. The subject is important not only in the history of cartography, art, and zoological illustration, but also in the history of the geography of the "marvelous" and of western conceptions of the ocean. Moreover, the sea monsters depicted on maps can supply important insights into the sources, influences, and methods of the cartographers who drew or painted them. In this highly-illustrated book the author analyzes the most important examples of sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps produced in Europe, beginning with the earliest mappaemundi on which they appear in the 10th century and continuing to the end of the 16th century., From dragons and serpents to many-armed beasts that preyed on ships and sailors alike, sea monsters have terrified mariners across all ages and cultures and have become the subject of many tall tales from the sea. Accounts of these creatures have also inspired cartographers and mapmakers, many of whom began decorating their maps with them to indicate unexplored areas or areas about which little was known. Whether swimming vigorously, gamboling amid the waves, attacking ships, or simply displaying themselves for our appreciation, the sea monsters that appear on medieval and Renaissance maps are fascinating and visually engaging. Yet despite their appeal, these monsters have never received the scholarly attention that they deserve. In Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps , Chet Van Duzer analyzes the most important examples of sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps produced in Europe. Van Duzer begins with the earliest mappaemundi on which these monsters appear in the tenth century and continues to the end of the sixteenth century and, along the way, sheds important light on the sources, influences, and methods of the cartographers who drew or painted them. A beautifully designed visual reference work, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps will be important not only in the history of cartography, art, and zoological illustration, but also in the history of the geography of the "marvelous" and of Western conceptions of the ocean.

LC Classification NumberGA300