The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime [Paperback]

Miles Harvey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2001

The Island of Lost Maps tells the story of a curious crime spree: the theft of scores of valuable centuries-old maps from some of the most prominent research libraries in the United States and Canada. The perpetrator was Gilbert Joseph Bland, Jr., an enigmatic antiques dealer from South Florida, whose cross-country slash-and-dash operation had gone virtually undetected until he was caught in 1995–and was unmasked as the most prolific American map thief in history. As Miles Harvey unravels the mystery of Bland’s life, he maps out the world of cartography and cartographic crime, weaving together a fascinating story of exploration, craftsmanship, villainy, and the lure of the unknown.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1995, a watchful patron alerted a librarian at Johns Hopkins University that another patron, a middle-aged and well-dressed man, was behaving suspiciously. The librarian called the police, who discovered that the man, a Floridian named Gilbert Bland, had cut four maps from a set of rare books. On investigation, the police were able to attribute dozens of similar thefts to Bland, thefts that had taken place at a score of the country's best-regarded--and, presumably, best-protected--scholarly institutions.

Like countless other readers, Miles Harvey, a writer for Outside magazine, encountered the news of Bland's arrest as a brief item in the back pages of the morning newspaper. The story stayed with Harvey, who wondered why otherwise law-abiding people behave so badly around antiquities. In The Island of Lost Maps, a wonderfully rich excursion into the demimonde of what might be called cartographomania, Harvey follows Bland's tracks from library to library, reconstructing the crimes of the man he deems the Al Capone of map theft, following the contours of Bland's complex, sinister character. Along the way, Harvey examines the history of cartography generally, and the ravenous market for old maps--once the quiet province of a few knowing collectors, now invaded by speculators. These maps are just another corner of the overpriced status-symbol commodity market--and one that richly rewarded Bland's nefarious work.

Harvey's winding narrative, full of learned detours, adds up to a superbly rendered tale of true crime (and, many readers might object, of insufficient punishment), one that will appeal to book lovers and mystery buffs in equal measure. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Harvey himself sometimes seems obsessed as he explores the obsession of those who collect maps. Still, this is a challenging and erudite exploration of the explosion in "map culture" and the damage wrought by one determined con man with cartographic passions. Harvey's primary narrative (which originated as an article for Outside magazine) concerns the exploits of Gilbert Bland, a man who on the surface, according to Harvey, did indeed seem bland but who stole approximately $500,000 in antique maps from poorly secured rare-book libraries. Bland was apprehended in 1995 at Baltimore's Peabody Library; he was ultimately charged in several jurisdictions after numerous universities discovered extensive losses, but he plea-bargained for a light sentence. Harvey painstakingly reconstructs the map thief's various identitiesAfor Bland, a "chameleon," had abandoned a number of spouses and children and had engaged in questionable business ventures. Thus is Harvey launched into a larger meditation on the lure of "terra incognita," both literal and metaphoric, whether of Bland's enigmatic life or of undiscovered continents. Harvey uses the Bland case to explore both cartographic history and the dangers of obsession. One collector he examines is controversial map megadealer Graham Arader, considered responsible for cartography's newfound commercialism. Harvey's pursuit of all possible tangents (he even visits a map factory) causes his narrative to become unwieldy at times. But he offers dry wit and a fine sense of the dark places in our contemporary landscape, and he successfully captures both the story of Bland's bizarre "map crime spree" and the underexamined history and politics of contemporary cartography. Agent, Sloan Harris. 50,ooo first printing; 8-city author tour. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (September 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767908260
• ISBN-13: 978-0767908269
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Cartography

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The border meets the razor's edge, September 14, 2000

By 

My name is not my credit card "Maggie Council... (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime (Hardcover)

Miles Harvey has succeeded in telling a story that not only involves the history of cartography and one man's attempt to profit from stealing the past, but also a personal journey of his own in interpreting the map of the life of thief Gilbert Bland. The journey takes many turns, not too many as to obscure the original destination, but enough well-researched avenues to enhance the experience for the educated reader.

It's like the PBS series "Connections" meets "America's Most Wanted"; Harvey turns ordinary library books into victims of malice aforethought as he traces the crimes and tries on the mind of the criminal.

Finishing this book, I know I'll want to read it again; like an Umberto Eco book, I'll get something new out of it with each read.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeper than anything I expected, September 5, 2000

By 

David Cullen "Dave Cullen" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime (Hardcover)

What an unexpected delight. I thought it would be an interesting crime caper, but that was really just the launching point (and central plot line) for a fascinating exploration of a series of intriguing ideas. I had no idea what a profound role map had played in the history or exploration, or especially how maps served as a model for much of the way we think.

Stunning to discover how much of my own mental process mirrored the maps, right down to the imaginary creatures and utopian lands littered around their edges. They have become so integrated into the way we conceive and process our world that they'd disappeared from view, taken for granted, like oxygen. I had studied enough history to grasp how much my world-view was founded on the ideas of the Enlightenment, of Darwin, Einstein and Freud. I had no idea how much was resting on maps. It was jaw-dropping sometimes to see them revealed.

I have to say, I had no idea I would find those subjects interesting either. But I was slyly drawn into these worlds, and found them more fascinating than the crime caper that originally grabbed my attention.

I hope I'm not making this sound like some plodding historical bore. It actually moves along quite quickly, and the modern story of this weird little man in this strange little world is fascinating stuff. (The chapter on the big map-trader Arader was a hoot.) That was what I picked the book up for, and it was everything I expected, but Harvey wove this little adventure seamlessly into a host of other explorations, and those are what made this book truly magical. Really remarkable stuff.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating find, September 28, 2000

By 

Mark Wukas - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime (Hardcover)

When I first heard that The Island of Lost Maps had its genesis as a magazine article, I wondered whether it might suffer upon being expanded into a book. My fears were unfounded. Here's a book that not only explores a crime and tries to get into the mind of the thief, it is a wonderful look at the history of cartography, the world of rare maps, their life in the auction houses, etc. I turned page after page, greedily devouring Harvey's deft prose. Some critics have faulted Harvey for intruding too much into the story, but don't believe them. He is engaging, inquiring and downright likeable as an everyman narrator who's been bitten by his curiosity. We should all give into our obsessions as he has in writing this book. Bravo!