Cool Dad

Happy Father's Day from my kids.

Do they know their old man or what?

Coffee mug with road map with Colorado and Wyoming.

In addition of my love of maps and map memorabilia... I also love my cats. I promise this will not become a "cat blog", but you may be subjected, from time to time, with photos of my cats.

This one is Leela.

The Die is Cast!

I don't recall if this is a new logo for them or not... but I recently discovered the logo on the Boardgame News website:

More about maps in boardgames coming soon. But this one is too good to pass up. Thanks, BGN!

Relief Map Rug

"The Carpet is constructed from many little 'foam-bars' in different colours and heights. Together these 'foam-bars' show an image of a landscape in color and a relief in height."

Dutch company, Studio Laurens van Wieringen, offers a map you can walk on. With your barefeet you can even discern elevation!

Thanks for Boing Boing for bringing this one to my attention.

Maps as Art

Jennifer Collier, of Stafford, England, creates "innovative textiles and craft pieces using natural and found materials". Naturally, I am partial to her use of maps in creating sculptures of shoes and dresses:

Maps in Advertising

As I mentioned in my first post, finding this ad in a magazine really caught my eye:



Obviously, it is not a literal "road map", but the metaphor of a road map is that the customers of this Lexis-Nexis product will be able to find their way through complex information sources, without getting lost. Anyone who has ever used a road map to navigate through unknown territory should be able to relate to this ad, especially if you're the type that doesn't like to ask for directions...

When I saw this ad (1991?) I was not so familiar with the Lexis-Nexis corporation, or Ohio geography. So, I didn't appreciate at the time that they were using an Ohio road map. The floppy disk map includes Dayton where their U.S. corporate headquarters are located.


A map of the world, or a globe, are other common themes for advertising:

I guess it wouldn't be Christmas without a Bacardi drink



Obviously the advertisers are not using the globe as a way to indicate which planet they are on...

CS First Boston is rather transparent in their intentions

Perhaps they want to indicate their "global presence"...

Of course, MCI is now part of Verizon

or that their product is useful to everyone on the planet...

Does mean that CIBA is part of the Flat Earth Society?
and sometimes, it's just silly.

An Everlasting Piece, 2000, directed by Barry Levinson. Has anyone ever seen this film?

What is Cartophilia?

Cartophila = Love of maps

"Carto" as in cartography

Cartophiliac = One who loves maps

I don't pretend to have coined this term. I'm not sure who did. Fifteen or so years ago, I subscribed to a newsletter that I think was called Cartophilia*. It's publisher was a collector of maps and map memorabilia. I think he collected primarily post cards and the like, much as I do. But the point was, he was a collector of affordable maps. I love antique maps, but I could never afford to collect something like that. He inspired me in my own collection, which you will read about on these pages, if I don't bore you completely to tears.

One of my hopes is that someone will read this blog and remind me of who that gentleman was (all I remember was that he lived in New England somewhere). I would like to credit him for coining the term (if he did) as well as credit him for encouraging me in my hobby.

*UPDATE 9/25/07: While looking for something else, I came across info that reminds me that Cartomania is/was published by Siegfried Feller in Massachusetts.

Caveats, Disclaimers and Contact Info

I am not a Cartographer, or professional Geographer. I'm just someone who loves maps and wants to share that passion with others.

Unless otherwise noted, I do not pretend to own the copyright for any of the images I post on this site. If you, or your corporation, own any of these images, and you want me to take them down, just say so. Don't sue me, you'll be wasting your time, since I have more liabilities than assets.

The words on this blog, unless otherwise noted, are most likely mine. Feel free to quote liberally, with a link back here, of course.

Contact me:

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Story of a Cartophiliac

I have loved maps for as long as I can remember.

My father had a nice collection of atlases and a World Book Encyclopedia. I can remember spreading them out across the living room floor, studying them for hours. The World Book had multiple maps for each continent, showing flora, fauna a minerals of each continent, in addition to the topographical and political boundaries maps. He had world atlases, American atlases and historical atlases. The historical atlases were fascinating; to see the development of nations progress from page to page.

I made my own maps. I drew a map of my neighborhood in order to chart out the most efficient path for Halloween Trick-or-treating. I made up my own maps of Europe and Asia to imagine how Alexander's empire might have grown and developed if he hadn't died so young. Before I understood what global warming was, I drew a map of the United States after sea levels had risen, covering most of Florida, and forcing the capital to move from Washington, DC, to Columbus, Ohio...

In junior high school, a buddy and I, inspired by J.R.R. Tokien and other fantasy authors, created our own imaginary worlds. First they were the "ant countries" in our back yards. Later, realms of pure imagination with not only maps, but histories, flags, currency, and newspapers. In college, when I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons, I had a ready-made fantasy world in which to place the adventures when I became a Dungeon Master.

While I have pretty much stopped drawing my own maps (short of a doodle here and there) I have continued to collect them. Postcards, stamps, coffee mugs, posters, etc. But one day while perusing an information professional journal of one sort or another, I came across this ad:

What a clever idea! To use a road map as the cover of one of those old (not so old then) 5.25 inch floppy disks! The purpose of the map not to show a route, or how to find the store, but to invoke a feeling of adventure or the freedom of the road. Like any good advertising, it evokes an emotional result. I was so fascinated by this idea that I began looking for more like it.

In the entries that follow this one I will share other ads with "map as design element", as well as postcards, stamps and other odds and ends of map emphemera. I hope you enjoy it, or at least find it mildly amusing. If so, please share your comments, or links to other interseting map memorabilia online.

Who am I?

I am a librarian at the Main Branch of medium-sized city public library somewhere in the midwest. My big hobby, besides maps, is boardgaming. At some point, I have no doubt that I will blog about maps in boardgames. If you really need to know who I am, or get in touch with me, see contact info.