Undiscovered Scotland

 

Over the years Edinburgh-based publishers Birlinn have produced a number of books that have caused problems for naturally conservative reviewers not wishing to delve too far into their stocks of superlatives. "Edinburgh: Mapping the City" by Chris Fleet & Daniel MacCannell is another one. It is, quite simply, a magnificent book, a superb exhibition of what can be achieved by authors who know their subject intimately, working alongside publishers who really care about the quality of their products and with the National Library of Scotland, whose maps feature so prominently throughout the volume.

Edinburgh is one of the most distinctive and widely recognised cities in the world. It benefits from a depth of history and wealth of topography that between them ensure it is endlessly fascinating to visitors and residents alike. The story of the city has been told many times before, but never quite as impressively as it is here. What you find between the covers of "Edinburgh: Mapping the City" are 71 chapters, each focusing on a map/plan/drawing of Edinburgh produced in the five centuries between 1530 and 2014. In each chapter the reader is given a full page detail of the most interesting part of the map, followed by several pages of text and relevant illustrations, including one showing the full map being discussed.

So, a book about maps? It is, but it is also so much more as well. Above all else, this is a book about Edinburgh. Maps can show what a place is like, but they also tell us as much or more about how a place is regarded by those making the maps, and about how they wish to represent it to those using their maps. The authors have done a wonderful job in selecting a range of maps that show many different aspects of the city, at many different periods in time. The arrival of the railways is shown, as is the planning for the New Town. There are also maps made for tourists, city engineers, tram builders, fire insurers, anti-alcohol campaigners and town planners. But the recurring theme is maps made by potential attackers and defenders of the city, for whom an accurate idea of what was on the ground could easily be a matter of life and death. Many of the early maps, plans and drawings had a military purpose, and this theme continues through to a map made by the Luftwaffe showing bombing targets in 1941 and, chillingly because of its unexpectedness, a 1983 map made for any Soviet tank commanders who happened to find themselves driving along Princes Street...