About a millennium ago, in Cairo, an unknown author completed a large and richly illustrated book. In the course of thirty-five chapters, this book guided the reader on a journey from the outermost cosmos and planets to Earth and its lands, islands, features, and inhabitants. This treatise, known as The Book of Curiosities , was unknown to modern scholars until a remarkable manuscript copy surfaced in 2000. Lost Maps of the Caliphs provides the first general overview of The Book of Curiosities and the unique insight ...
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About a millennium ago, in Cairo, an unknown author completed a large and richly illustrated book. In the course of thirty-five chapters, this book guided the reader on a journey from the outermost cosmos and planets to Earth and its lands, islands, features, and inhabitants. This treatise, known as The Book of Curiosities , was unknown to modern scholars until a remarkable manuscript copy surfaced in 2000. Lost Maps of the Caliphs provides the first general overview of The Book of Curiosities and the unique insight it offers into medieval Islamic thought. Opening with an account of the remarkable discovery of the manuscript and its purchase by the Bodleian Library, the authors use The Book of Curiosities to re-evaluate the development of astrology, geography, and cartography in the first four centuries of Islam. Their account assesses the transmission of Late Antique geography to the Islamic world, unearths the logic behind abstract maritime diagrams, and considers the palaces and walls that dominate medieval Islamic plans of towns and ports. Early astronomical maps and drawings demonstrate the medieval understanding of the structure of the cosmos and illustrate the pervasive assumption that almost any visible celestial event had an effect upon life on Earth. Lost Maps of the Caliphs also reconsiders the history of global communication networks at the turn of the previous millennium. It shows the Fatimid Empire, and its capital Cairo, as a global maritime power, with tentacles spanning from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus Valley and the East African coast. As Lost Maps of the Caliphs makes clear, not only is The Book of Curiosities one of the greatest achievements of medieval mapmaking, it is also a remarkable contribution to the story of Islamic civilization that opens an unexpected window to the medieval Islamic view of the world.
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Add this copy of Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh to cart. $36.06, very good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by University of Chicago Press.
Add this copy of Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh to cart. $39.96, good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by University of Chicago Press.
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Seller's Description:
HARDCOVER Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Standard-sized.
Add this copy of Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh to cart. $48.25, very good condition, Sold by Daedalus Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by University of Chicago Press.
Add this copy of Lost Maps of the Caliphs Format: Hardcover to cart. $49.49, new condition, Sold by indoo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Avenel, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by University of Chicago Press.
Add this copy of Lost Maps of the Caliphs Drawing the World in Eleventh to cart. $50.50, very good condition, Sold by Daedalus Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by University of Chicago Press.
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Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 022654088X. Lightly worn jacket. A nice, bright copy.; B & W Illustrations and Color Plates; 9.1 X 6.1 X 1.3 inches; 349 pages.
Add this copy of Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh to cart. $75.52, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by University of Chicago Press.
