"A beautifully illustrated book." -The Wall Street Journal

"An enlightening and lovingly presented tribute to the necessity and wonder of libraries and archives." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A concise and engrossing study of cartographers' urge to make the world behave." -Kirkus Reviews

Join renowned geographer James Cheshire on a tour through a forgotten collection of maps that shaped over 200 years of Western history.

Tucked just beyond offices and a lecture hall in the heart of London lies a turquoise door. Intrigued, James Cheshire stepped through and was astonished by what he found inside: thousands of maps and atlases, spilling out of wooden drawers. It was a map library.

In The Library of Lost Maps, Cheshire transports us to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the library's maps were wielded for war and negotiated during peace; when its charts traced, for the first time, the icy peaks of the Himalayas. Maps have played a vital role in shaping our scientific knowledge of the world, inspiring the theory of plate tectonics and showing the impact of climate change. They have also guided politicians, encouraging both beneficial reforms and horrific conquests, the consequences of which we live with today.

Brimming with surprising discoveries and stunning four-color map reproductions, The Library of Lost Maps unveils the power of maps to remind us of our past and inspire us toward a better future.