You may have spotted it on my illustrated journal page back in December, but I got A Map of the World: The World According to Illustrators and Storytellers for Sinterklaas. I apologize for not reviewing it earlier, because let me tell you: if you haven't seen this book (or own it!), you're missing out! Big time.
I LOVE me some maps, and the good folks over at Gestalten collected more than 500 of them, done by artists, illustrators, and designers. Boy, oh boy, oh boy! The maps are from all over the world and range from abstract to sketchy, from highly detailed and realistic, to utopian and imaginative.
Some of my favorite maps were done by Oliver Jeffers (OMG This Man. I LOVE him), Antoine Corbineau, Zoe More O'Ferrall (such a pretty website!), Marlena Zuber (who did a very inspiring personal map called 'lovers lane', about the neighborhood she lived in and cycled through to her lover!), Borgarmynd, James Gulliver Hancock, and many, many more. I had a hard time selecting pictures for this post, as each of the maps tells a different story, it makes for hours of fun. This is NOT one of those coffee table books you'll buy and never look at, I promise you. You can leaf through it, put it back, pick it up again, get completely lost in a visual story, again and again.
You can buy a copy on Amazon (and if you do, please use that link :-)), or support your local bookstore and get it / order it there (even better)!