JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
There is a deep beauty in the imagery of maps with contour lines. This is found over and over again here, and tonight it rose from piecing together an enormous map of Gettysburg and its approaches. Here is an example:
Source: A Map of Gettysburg and Antietam. From: The Military Engineer, the journal of the Society of Military Engineers, published at the Mills Building, Washington, D.C., 1925-1927.
[Detail from the Gettysburg sheets]
[Detail of Emmitsburg, about six miles southwest of Gettysburg]
The details come from a massive map of Gettysburg, in 12 colorful sections, published 1925-1927 in issues of the Military Engineer, printed by the War Department Corps of Engineers, with the map measures about 40 square feet--it is a superb wall map for "historians and war games" (according to the journal). The maps are printed in color, include contour lines and all manner of human geography, in very high detail, including individual houses, and of course all fit perfectly together to make a wall. The map is extraordinary in that it is constructed in 12 section on 8 separate sheets, with the bottom two thirds of the 3 section x 4 section grid being two maps on one sheet. Each map section print-line runs 23x17" (excluding margins etc.), the whole measuring about 70"x 68". All together, the map covers a piece of ground 23 x 23 miles, with 3" equal to about 1 miles (scale 1/21120).
This is simply a terrific map which of course comes close to putting you a lot closer to the battlefield than looking at any maps without contour lines.
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