A beautifully illustrated book . . . The Library of Lost Maps collects and presents some of the great maps of the past for leisurely perusal. Readers needn't travel down dusty corridors or through mysterious doors to find them. Although that does sound like fun.

The Wall Street Journal

[An] exquisite volume . . . Cheshire not only shares his joy at digging through the archives, but also astutely charts how maps offer a new angle on historical events . . . It amounts to an enlightening and lovingly presented tribute to the necessity and wonder of libraries and archives.

Publishers Weekly, starred review

[A] handsomely illustrated study of mapmaking . . . [Cheshire] is an infectious guide, tracing how maps evolved from hand-tinted curiosities to instruments of science, propaganda, and power . . . A concise and engrossing study of cartographers' urge to make the world behave.

Kirkus Reviews

Digging into the dusty archives of an old map library at UCL, James Cheshire unearths stories of explorers and imagined landscapes, WWII intrigue, geopolitics and social change-in this astonishingly fresh and insightful perspective into history and geography. A triumph.

Alice Roberts, author of THE COMPLETE HUMAN BODY and EVOLUTION

A magnificent book that sings of the romance and mystery that only old maps possess. Wandering The Library of Lost Maps, I didn't want to find my way back.

Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of THE PHANTOM ATLAS and THE MADMAN'S LIBRARY