''An Atlas of Fantasy'', compiled by Jeremiah Benjamin Post, was originally published in 1973 by

Mirage Press Jack Laurence Chalker (December 17, 1944 – February 11, 2005) was an American science fiction author. Chalker was also a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for 12 years, retiring during 1978 to write full-time. He also was a m ...

and revised for a 1979 edition by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

. The 1979 edition dropped twelve maps from the first edition and added fourteen new ones. It also included an introduction by

Lester del Rey Lester del Rey (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science ...

. To remain of manageable size, the ''Atlas'' excludes advertising maps, cartograms, most disproportionate maps, and alternate history ("might have been") maps, focusing instead on imaginary lands derived from literary sources. It purposefully omits "one-to-one" maps such as

Thomas Hardy's Wessex Thomas Hardy's Wessex is the fictional literary landscape created by the English author Thomas Hardy as the setting for his major novels, located in the south and southwest of England. Hardy named the area "Wessex" after the medieval Anglo-Saxo ...

(which merely renames places in southwest England), but includes

Barsetshire Barsetshire is a fictional English county created by Anthony Trollope in the series of novels known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire. The county town and cathedral city is Barchester. Other towns in the novels include Silverbridge, Hogglestock an ...

and

Yoknapatawpha County Yoknapatawpha County () is a fictional Mississippi county created by the American author William Faulkner, largely based upon and inspired by Lafayette County, Mississippi, and its county seat of Oxford (which Faulkner renamed "Jefferson"). Faulk ...

, which are evidently considered to be sufficiently fictionalized. The emphasis is on science fiction and fantasy, though Post suggests there exist enough mystery fiction maps to someday create ''The Detectives' Handy Pocket Atlas''. Other maps were omitted due to permission costs or reproduction quality. The maps are reproduced from many sources, and an Index of Artists is included.

Reception

Stephen L. Lortz reviewed ''An Atlas of Fantasy'' for ''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

'' magazine and stated that "An Atlas of Fantasy has provided me with many hours of entertainment as well as a number of inspirations for my FRP campaign, and in my opinion, belongs on the reference shelf of every Game Master and fantasist."

Reviews

*Review by William P. Hall Jr. (1974) in ''Cross Plains'' V1n4, July-August 1974 *Review by Stuart David Schiff (1974) in '' Whispers'' #4, July 1974 *Review by Greg Bear (1974) in ''Luna Monthly'', #56, November 1974 *Review by uncredited (1975) in ''Amra'' V2n63, April 1975 *Review by David L. Greene (1975) in ''

The Baum Bugle ''The Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz'' is the official journal of The International Wizard of Oz Club. The journal was founded in 1957, with its first issue released in June of that year (to a subscribers' list of sixteen). It publishes three times pe ...

'', Spring 1975 *Review by Richard Mathews (1979) in ''Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review'', July 1979 *Review by Lewis Pulsipher (1983) in ''

Dragon Magazine Dragon Magazine may refer to: * ''Dragon'' (magazine), an American magazine for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' players * ''Dragon Magazine'' (Fujimi Shobo), a Japanese light novel magazine {{disambig ...

'', April 1983

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlas of Fantasy, An 1973 books 1979 non-fiction books Fantasy books Fictional atlases

Reception

Reviews

See also

References