MR. SELDEN'S MAP OF CHINA: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer

Brook, Timothy

ISBN 10: 1620401436 / ISBN 13: 9781620401439

Published by Bloomsbury Press, New York, NY, 2013

About this Item

BRAND NEW & COLLECTIBLE. First Edition, First Printing. Exploring the story behind a handpainted 17th century Chinese martine map, donated to Oxford's Bodleian Library in 1654 by lawyer John Selden (1584 - 1654), where it sat undisturbed for some 350 years in 2009. Sinologist Timothy Brook probes the mystery of how this ancient Chinese map finds its way to England of King James II. 211 pgs with 28 illustrations. 8 chapters: 1, What is Wrong with this Map?; 2, Closing the Sea; 3, Reading Chinese in Oxford; 4, John Saris & the Chinese Captain; 5, The Compass Rose; 6, Sailing from China; 7, Heaven is Round, Earth is Square; and 8, Secrets of the Shelden Map, followed by Epilogue and 2 appendices.

Seller Inventory # 017325

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MR. SELDEN'S MAP OF CHINA: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press, New York, NY
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1620401436
• ISBN 13: 9781620401439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First American Edition, First Printing
• Condition: NEW - COLLECTIBLE
• Dust Jacket Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Earth Sciences, Geology, Oceanography, Geography
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

Timothy Brook's award-winning Vermeer's Hat unfolded the early history of globalization, using Vermeer's paintings to show how objects like beaver hats and porcelain bowls began to circulate around the world. Now he plumbs the mystery of a single artifact that offers new insights into global connections centuries old.

In 2009, an extraordinary map of China was discovered in Oxford's Bodleian Library-where it had first been deposited 350 years before, then stowed and forgotten for nearly a century. Neither historians of China nor cartography experts had ever seen anything like it. It was so odd that experts would have declared it a fake-yet records confirmed it had been delivered to Oxford in 1659. The “Selden Map,” as it is known, was a puzzle that needing solving.

Brook, a historian of China, set out to explore the riddle. His investigation will lead readers around this elegant, enigmatic work of art, and from the heart of China, via the Southern Ocean, to the court of King James II. In the story of Selden's map, he reveals for us the surprising links between an English scholar and merchants half a world away, and offers novel insights into the power and meaning that a single map can hold. Brook delivers the same anecdote-rich narrative, intriguing characters, and unexpected historical connections that made Vermeer's Hat an instant classic.

About the Author

Timothy Brook is a professor of history and principal of St. John's College at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of many books, including Vermeer's Hat, winner of the Mark Lynton Prize for outstanding achievement in world history, and Confusions of Pleasure, which received the Joseph Levenson Prize from the Association for Asian Studies. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.