LIMITED TO 1,000 NUMBERED COPIES

Map dimensions: 56" x 47¼"

Presented in a large wooden map box (51" x 5½")

Two commentary volumes

Published price: US$ 1,400.00

The Hereford World Map, made in around 1300, is recognised by UNESCO as an exceptionally important cultural artefact. It shows us how medieval people saw the physical world around them; perhaps more importantly, it also reveals how they perceived it culturally and spiritually.

The Folio Society has used digital technology to peel away the years and reveal, as much as possible, the glory of the medieval original. In it, the background vellum has been cleaned, lettering and drawings strengthened and, most strikingly, the original gilding and spectacular colouring of rivers and oceans have been restored. A careful analysis of pigments, comparison with other medieval maps and the expertise of consultants from the British Library and the Bodleian Library have all been employed to inform the reproduction. To prevent more damage occurring in the future, special light-fast inks have been used. This is by no means an attempt to recreate the original in every particular – some detail is lost for ever – but it is the most authentic version possible.

Over 1,000 inscriptions and almost as many painted scenes and symbolic decorations combine to create a strange and unfamiliar world: a world in which France is below the Red Sea, where Jerusalem occupies the exact centre and where a rhinoceros is as likely or unlikely an animal as a unicorn. The map is also an exquisite object in its own right: a work of beauty, artistry and skill. It is a bestiary, psalter, Bible, history of the world and collection of travellers’ tales in one. Now it is available for you to own in a new reproduction from The Folio Society, limited to 1,000 numbered copies. READ MORE AND ORDER HERE

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