The beauty of old maps
We can has Google Earth! Via Boston Public Library.
I have to admit it: Google Earth is pretty cool and Google Maps quite useful, but none of them are close to be as beautiful as old hand-drawn maps.
Since my childhood I’ve always been fascinated by old earth globes, vintage maps or navigation maps, following I am sharing some of that love.
Bird eye view of San Francisco. Via David Rumsey collection.
Bird eye view of San Francisco (detail). Via David Rumsey collection.
Rotation of the earth around the sun by J. Soulier, 1850. Via David Rumsey collection.
18th century map of Cape Verde islands. You got to love those lines and stars. Via Boston Public Library.
Engraved celestial chart by Alexander Jamieson, 1822. Via David Rumsey collection.
Cool typography and funky lakes anyone? Via Boston Public Library.
Beautiful world map. Via Sammlung Ryhiner.
I’m with you, there’s a level of craftsmanship that’s amazing, the detail and a very individual perspective of what/how the world was since. The importance of places, landmarks. Nice one : )
Nice one
I like even older maps – but this is nice – going wayback in history..
Very nice post! I too am fascinated by the level of craftsmanship that was put into these older maps. While I’m not a huge promoter of photos.com, I once worked for a company that utilized them as a stock service. Photos.com had a ton of awesome old maps… not sure where they got them, but it was really fun to pour over them.
Just imagen the amount of patience and skill that took to make these, amazing post thanks.
Thanks for sharing the old maps, I am big fan as well. Did you check Library of Congress on Flickr?
Also, Manitoba has nice collection of historical maps:http://flickr.com/people/manitobamaps/
Old maps are the best.
Thank you for sharing with us, I love to look at old maps.
Thanks to all for your kind comments.
Really great post ! I’ve been looking at some old maps i found in basement, and was astonished by the level of details on it! Can’t believe how people used to do it with so much love..
What is captcha code?, pls provide me captcha code codes or plugin, Thanks in advance.
Its very interesting to see the difference between a modern day Google maps and these old world maps. They are true master pieces.