Mapping Shakespeare: An Exploration of Shakespeare's Worlds Through Maps

With more than 100 full-color, often double-spread maps and a total of 187 illustrations, all with informative and detailed captions, this work from Black (history, Univ. of Exeter; Maps of War, Mapping Naval Warfare) traces the medieval background of mapmaking in Europe through the Renaissance and age of exploration, along with ideas about astrology and cosmology and advances in printmaking. The author expertly illustrates the state of cartography and knowledge of the world in England during the time of William Shakespeare (1564–1616), quoting his plays and sonnets when relevant. (Although there is little proof of which of these maps Shakespeare actually saw, word spread about them in British universities and educated circles and quickly came to be part of popular knowledge.) This title pairs well with Peter Whitfield's Mapping Shakespeare's World, which contains 54 maps and 102 paintings, portraits, and other illustrations and focuses more on the plays themselves. Despite these similarities, which might cause confusion, the titles are complementary. In Whitfield's work, maps detail the plays; in Black's, the plays and sonnets illuminate the maps, and both bring to Shakespeare readers and scholars new knowledge, insight, and delight.