Traces the history of charts not as technical documents but as witnesses to the discovery of the world beyond Europe and to man's evolving knowledge of the oceans. Large format hardcover with 136 pages in good secondhand condition. The dust jacket has some wear around edges.

This book from the Peter Whitfield cartographic series traces the history of humankinds relation to the sea as revealed in ten centuries of maritime maps. Presenting sixty maps reproduced in color over double-page spreads, and commentary describing their special features and their significance in the history of navigation, the book explores ancient navigation; the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery; the printed sea chart, 1600-1800; and the modern sea chart.