often took up a minority of space with the majority being devoted to depicting the grandeur of the cartographer’s patrons or the novel landscapes and wondrous creatures supposedly to be found within the map’s boundaries. Other maps offered the pictorial histories of those who had traveled the depicted lands and seas. Until the 16th century, most maps had been individually hand drawn and illustrated with much the same care and artistic verve as could be found in medieval manuscripts. Just as books became mass-produced and mass consumed, so did maps, and in both cases the practical aspects of the product soon overwhelmed the artistic. Although today’s maps are far more accurate and the information infinitely more useful, modern collectors and interior designers look to the past for the finest examples of cartography for use in display or décor.
Bird’s Eye View Map of San Francisco
Published in 1876 by Currier & Ives.
The Allure
There has never been a time when people have traveled as often and as far as we do today. Everybody came from somewhere and most of us want to go somewhere else. The frequency and exigencies of travel often destroy our sense of time and distance but maps return this sensibility. We not only can recapture these sensations from our own travel experience but those of our ancestors and culture. Vintage maps allow us to display pride in our own accomplishments while linking them to our lineage. Like a shelf of richly bound classic texts, a well-framed map speaks as much about the owner’s worldliness as it does about taste. Few people today can decorate their walls with