The Ghost Map, For Real

Over the weekend I went to the Field Museum in Chicago to see their exhibit Maps: Finding Our Place in the World, which runs through January 27, 2008. I was surprised to discover that the exhibit contained an 1855 copy of John Snow’s book On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, complete with the fold-out version of the ghost map (which you may remember I wrote about back in October). It was exciting to see this included in the exhibit; I hadn’t expected it. The exhibit is wonderful and kept our whole family interested for a long time, even the 13-yr-old, who has little patience for the non-electronic. (A 1982 map of Arpanet did not impress.)

Booklovers will be pleasantly surprised to find a whole section of the exhibit devoted to “Mapping the Imaginary” where you can see original maps of Treasure Island, Utopia, Oz, Lilliput, Minas Tirith, and the Hundred Acre Wood. We also enjoyed an early print of Jaro Hess’s “Land of Make Believe” map, a copy of which hung in our house for a long time, but which was taken down at some point because it was deemed too babyish. We decided that it might have to be retrieved from the attic for further study.