Atlas of Imagined Places: from Lilliput to Gotham City

by Matt Brown, Rhys B. Davies, Mike Hall (Illustrator)

Overview

WINNER, Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2022: Illustrated Travel Book of the Year. HIGHLY COMMENDED, British Cartographic Society Awards 2022.

From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.

The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out, but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home.

Each location has an an extended index entry plus coordinates so you can find it on the maps. Illuminating essays accompanying the maps give a great insight into the stories behind the imaginary places, from Harry Potter's wizardry to Stone Age Bedrock in the Flintstones.

A stunning map collection of invented geography and topography drawn from the world's imagination. Fascinating and beautiful, this is an essential book for any popular culture fan and map enthusiast.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849947428
Publisher:	Batsford, B.T. Ltd.
Publication date:	09/28/2021
Series:	Atlases of the Imagination
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	80 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Matt Brown Matt Brown is solo author of 11 books, including the popular 'Everything You Know... is Wrong' series. He is co-author and map contributor of Londonist Mapped (AA Publishing), a cartographic guide to London which won Stanford's Illustrated Travel Book of the Year award in 2018. He also drew the maps for Patricia Bracewell's historical novels Shadow on the Crown and the Price of Blood. Matt has worked in publishing for 20 years, most notably as editor (now editor-at-large) of Londonist.com. He has given hundreds of talks over the years, and made numerous media appearances. He is tweeting at @mattfromlondon.

Rhys B. Davies hails from South Wales. Growing up as a child of the nineties, he was reared on a mix of Saturday-morning cartoons, blockbuster films and all manner of literature, from Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl to Crichton, Clancy and Cussler. These influences coalesced into a deep love of fiction and the worlds that imagination can build. His first novel Timewreck Titanic was published in 2012.

Matt Brown is author of several books for Batsford, using his trademark humour and playfulness as tools to explore the world. He has served as editor and editor-at-large of Londonist.com, writing on topics as diverse as street art, politics, map-making and science. With a deep love of trivia, he's written and hosted hundreds of quizzes, including events for the Museum of London and Manchester Science Museum, among many others. He lives in Hertfordshire and tweets at @mattfromlondon.

Rhys B. Davies lives in Ceredigion, Wales. As a child of the nineties, he was reared on a mix of Saturday-morning cartoons, blockbuster films and all manner of literature, coalescing into a deep love of fiction and the worlds that imagination can build. 

Mike Hall is an illustrator and obsessive mapmaker from Harlow, UK. He has been fascinated by maps and architecture for as long as he can remember, spending endless days of his childhood drawing buildings in his home town and maps of places both real and imaginary. A graduate of the University of Westminster, he has created artwork for a broad range of clients in the UK and around the world, including Butlin’s, Harper’s Magazine, Penguin Books and the Royal Horticultural Society. He has lived in the London Boroughs of Brent, Harrow, Islington and Lewisham, and is now based in Valencia, Spain.

Editorial Reviews

‘There is much to relish in these maps’ - Times Literary Supplement ||

‘[A] luxe oversize book’ - New York Times

From the Publisher