The Ambulatory Map

[Joel Kovarsky]

I thought this was an interesting piece, which might not cross the radar in a scan of some of the more prominent history of cartography publications.

The Ambulatory Map, by Martin Brückner
Winterthur Portfolio , Vol. 45, No. 2/3 (Summer/Autumn 2011), pp. 141-160
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc.
Article DOI: 10.1086/660909
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/660909

Here is the short abstract:

"This essay examines the cultural significance of “ambulatory maps” in the Atlantic world between 1700 and 1800. Comparing stationary and portable maps, the essay in particular explores the emergent genre of the commercial pocket map. As “things-in-motion,” pocket maps occupied a unique place in American material life. Used for mapping people’s transits while at the same time being objects in transit, pocket maps constituted a unique visual and literary experience that affected early American engagements with space and spatial ideology."

[MatthewEdney]

Thanks Joel -- exactly the kind of work my students need!
Best,
Matthew