I still remember the moment. It felt as though I were being dangled from a great crane, watching the planet twinkling beneath me.
Suddenly, at the push of a button, I was being dropped at terrifying speed. One second I was looking at continents, the next, cities; and before I had time to blink again, I was hovering tens of feet above my own front door.
It was dizzying and dazzling — and in all that time I hadn’t moved an inch from my office chair. This was my first glimpse of Google Earth and it blew me away. But it wasn’t real.
I recognised all the constituent parts, I was humbled by the science, but I could not make sense of what I had just seen — I couldn’t imagine the journey or experience the travelling. Despite the witchery of the technology I wanted to be involved, I wanted the nitty-gritty of the wheres, the whys and the hows.
Especially the hows. When I imagine pioneers sailing treacherous seas and charting uncertain lands, cartographers who smuggled themselves into countries and elaborate minds that conceived spherical worlds and the longitudes that might encompass them, I yearn to see the joins, to trace my finger over the mountains they climbed, touch the pages and understand the journey.
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OK, so I have a map fetish. More precisely, a fascination for the mind-spinning wonders of an atlas. Some years ago I finally invested in — and carried home with me — a magnificently heavy slab of information.
The solar system, population graphs and a mesmerising array of flags — it was exploration in one tome, and I pored over those pages, dreaming of taking flight. Yes, Antarctica really was that big and, no, Guyana was not where I thought it should be.
Page after weighty page, I began to see a way to read the world. How had they put together this mind-boggling amount of information? They had seen it all, those scholars of the globe — and if I tried hard enough, I, too, might see it.
From generation to generation, from the seeds of the Babylonian map (6th century BC) to Ptolemy’s Geographia in the 2nd century AD and, later, the Islamic scholars; from the 16th-century Magellans, the 19th-century Livingstones and the 20th-century Scotts all the way to the piercing certainties of satellite images, the world has been circumnavigated and circumscribed.
Maps have evolved and spoken of their time. The first modern atlas, by Abraham Ortelius in 1570, was conceived as a more user-friendly version of the enormous wall-hangings that would be needed to show any meaningful information, and it featured a decidedly lumpy-looking South America.
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In the first Times atlas, published in 1895, areas of Africa, Australia and South America were still blank. Look back on these atlases and you will see the world changing — from the shrinking pinks used to denote the British Empire to the swelling deserts of our over-irrigated modern world. In 1922 J. G. Bartholomew’s full-colour Times Survey Atlas was so elaborate that it became a bible of geography — 15 years’ work condensed into 112 copper plates.
After more than a century of costume changes, the Times atlas has become a more refined creature. Its latest incarnation — a bespoke, luxury edition — is like a Rolls-Royce of mapping. But grandness has not made it snub its ephemeral newsprint cousin — Times Travel was allowed to take a test drive.
With my now not-so-secret fetish, this was a 21st-birthday, graduation and silver wedding anniversary present rolled into one. Imagine having your parents’, partner’s, child’s or even your own name hand-tooled in gold on a book of the world.
The luxury edition weaves the hand-crafted artistry of Book Works in East London, where Damien Hirst and Anish Kapoor queue to have bespoke little beauties created for them, with 552 pages of raw knowledge.
When I visited the book binders, I saw the atlas in its infancy, an accordion of pages fresh from the printers, unsmudged by eager hands. It was a bibliophile’s dream. Did I want Nigerian goatskin from Sokoto or calfskin from Paris to wrap those precious pages?
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And what kind of marbling should go on the endpapers? Silk or leather headbands? Page edges sanded and gilded? As I fantasised about sheets of gold leaf, initialled spines and slipcases, I realised what was missing from Google’s great crane in the sky — feeling.
Win your own bespoke Times atlas, worth £2,000
Answer this question by 5pm on Wednesday: On what material was the Hereford Mappa Mundi produced?
E-mail your answer and contact details to timescompatlas@harpercollins.co.uk. We will announce the winner in next week’s Travel.
To see the Times atlas range, starting at £6.99 for the mini edition — or to order a luxury one, visit www.timesatlas.com.
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Terms and Conditions
1. The competition will run on www.timesonline.co.uk website from Saturday November 14, 2009 to Wednesday November 18, 2009.
2. Closing date for entries is 5pm, Wednesday November 18, 2009.
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3. Unless otherwise stated, the competition is open to all residents of the UK aged 18 or over, except employees of Times Newspapers Limited (“TNL”) and Harper Collins Limited and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, and their families, agents, or anyone connected with this competition, including the third party promotional partners.
4. Entry limited to one per person. The winner is responsible for ensuring they are able to accept the prize as set out and in accordance with these terms and conditions, in the event they are unable to do so then the TNL reserves the right to redraw the prize.
5. Entry is free but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to local call charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access.
6. An eligible entrant must be an individual and must submit an entry in the form provided by TNL under this promotion including their name, address and e-mail address.
7. By entering, all eligible entrants agree to abide by each and all these terms and conditions. TNL reserves the right, with or without cause, to exclude entrants and withhold prizes for violating any of these terms and conditions. TNL reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions. Any amendments will be published on the Website.
8. There is one prize. The winner will be drawn at random from all correct entries received prior to the close of the competition. The winner will be notified by email within seven (7) days from the draw date and will be notified of an expected delivery date that may take up to 10 weeks. All reasonable endeavours will be made to contact the winner during this time. If a winner cannot be contacted or is not available, TNL reserves the right to re-draw another winner from the correct entries which were received before the closing date.
9. The Prize is one copy of luxury edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World (RRP £1,450) created by the art bookbindery, Book Works. The Atlas is hand bound in French calfskin or Nigerian goatskin, in a choice of colour and includes silk hand designed endpapers. In addition, the winner will receive up to £550 to bespoke their copy, for example including their name and geographic location co-ordinates, family crest or coat of arms can be gold printed on the front cover with their initials stamped on the spine and purchasing a silk or linen slipcase. The winner may supplement the bespoke components of the copy above the total £2,000 limit if they choose to.
10. There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
11. The winner may be required to submit valid identification before receiving their prize.
12. The judge’s decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.
13. TNL will not be liable for technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind or lost or unavailable network connections which may limit or prohibit an eligible entrant’s ability to participate in the competition. Other than death or personal injury arising from the acts or omissions of TNL, or their employees, TNL will not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of the winner’s enjoyment of the prize
14. By entering, any subsequent prize winners agree to allow the free use of their names, photographs and general locations for publicity and news purposes during this and future promotions by TNL or any associated or subsidiary company of News International Limited.
15. Uses of personal data received by TNL in the course of the promotion are subject to the privacy policy found on the Website. Winners’ names may be published on the Website.
16. Completion and submission of a registration slip or e-mail will be deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions.
17. TNL reserves the right at any time to cancel, modify or supersede the competition (including altering prizes) if, in their sole discretion, a competition is not capable for being conducted as specified. TNL reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal value in the event that circumstances beyond their control make this unavoidable.
18. The promoter of this prize draw is Times Newspapers Limited (address below)
19. For a list of winners, please send a stamped envelope to Times Newspapers Limited Competitions Department, 1 Virginia Street, London E98 1RL, stating for which competition you would like winners’ details.
20. Terms and Conditions printed in The Times/The Sunday Times newspaper or on Times Online form a part of these terms and conditions.