Mapping Shakespeare: An exploration of Shakespeare's worlds through maps

by Jeremy Black

Overview

William Shakespeare's lifetime (1564–1616) spanned the reigns of the last of the Tudors, Elizabeth I and the first of the Stuart kings, James I and the changing times and political mores of the time were reflected through his plays.
This beautiful new book looks at the England in which Shakespeare worked through maps and illustrations that reveal the way that he and his contemporaries saw their land and their place in the world.
It also explores the locations of his plays and looks at the possible inspirations for these and why Shakespeare would have chosen to set his stories there.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844865161
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/31/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	157 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He has written extensively on the history of mapping and its relationship to history and culture, and has lectured extensively around the world. Recent publications for Bloomsbury include: Metropolis (2015), Maps of War (2016) and the forthcoming Mapping Naval Warfare (2017).
Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter, UK, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, USA.

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2018
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. VERDICT A great addition to literary and cartography collections.—Marcia G. Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH

Library Journal