The Island of Lost Maps : A Story of Cartographic Crime

In December 1995 Gilbert Bland was chased from the rare book room of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, clutching a 232-year-old map. He turned out to be one of the greatest map thieves in history. Miles Harvey traced Bland's journey from middle-class anonymity to dark criminality, to understand what drove Bland to steal some of the rarest cartographic treasures in the world. Since men have drawn maps, others have stolen them. During the age of discovery, map theft literally changed the face of the earth. Columbus discovered America thanks to charts purloined by his brother from the Portuguese; Francis Drake shattered Spain's hold of the Americas and made smooth passage to the East Indies with captured Spanish maps. Gilbert Bland mutilated the beautifully crafted work of 'world describers' simply with a razor blade. Harvey returns to the libraries whose collections were so depleted by Bland's thieving, to try to fill the gaps in this enigmatic man's life. He meets an array of fascinating characters who people the world of cartography: the guarded breed of 'keepers of the books' who go to extraordinary lengths to obtain and preserve the maps in their libraries; the brash, self-described 'biggest map-dealer of the twentieth century' who sells $10 million worth of maps a year; and the otherwise closed community of dealers whose honourable world was shattered by Bland. In The Island of the Lost Maps Harvey with great panache and humour conveys an intriguing subculture of map junkies. It is a sparkling story of artisans, villainy and riveting adventures into the unknown.

Science & Math

Harvey, Miles

Astronomy & Space Science

Random House]

The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus) A&nbsp;New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in&nbsp;Nonfiction Finalist for the Midland Authors Annual Literary Award A Michigan Notable Book A&nbsp;CrimeReads&nbsp;Best True Crime&nbsp;Book of the Year "A masterpiece." --Nathaniel Philbrick&nbsp; In the summer of 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, vanished from a rural town in New York. Months later he reappeared on the Midwestern frontier and converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. In the wake of the murder of the sect's leader, Joseph Smith, Strang unveiled a letter purportedly from the prophet naming him successor, and persuaded hundreds of fellow converts to follow him to an island in Lake Michigan, where he declared himself a divine king. From this stronghold he controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, establishing a pirate colony where he practiced plural marriage and perpetrated thefts, corruption, and frauds of all kinds. Eventually, having run afoul of powerful enemies, including the American president, Strang was assassinated, an event that was frontpage news across the country. The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent twelve years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.

The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Little. Brown and Company

The King of Confidence

Back Bay Books

U.S.A. $24.95 Canada $35.95 "Every once in a blue moon you read a book that leaves you absolutely breathless, reminding you of the bright, hidden worlds within our world. This is that book, a glimmering, supersonic journey into terra incognita, where Miles Harvey, acting as writer and sleuth, pursues America's greatest map thief. This is a riveting, hilarious book of twists and turns, unexpected confessions and deep human truths. You will not rest until the last page." --Michael Paterniti, author of Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain The Island of Lost Maps is 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 the Al Capone of cartography, a man with the unlikely name of Gilbert Bland, Jr., an enigmatic antiques dealer from south Florida whose cross-country slash-and-dash operation went virtually undetected until he was caught in December 1995. This is also the spellbinding story of author Miles Harvey's quest to understand America's greatest map thief, a chameleon who changed careers and families without ever looking back. Gilbert Bland was a cipher, a blank slate--for Harvey, journalistic terra incognita. Filling in Bland's life was like filling in a map, and grew from an investigation into an intellectual adventure. Harvey listens to the fury of the librarians from whom Bland stole. He introduces us to America's foremost map mogul, a millionaire maverick who predicted the boom in map collecting. He retraces Bland's life, from his run-ins with the law to his troubled service in Vietnam. And finally, with the aid of an FBI agent, Harvey discovers the Island of Lost Maps. The deeper Miles Harvey investigates, the more we are drawn into this fascinating subculture of collectors, experts, and enthusiasts, all of them gripped by an obsession both surreal and sublime. Capturing that passion in perfect pitch, The Island of Lost Maps is an intriguing story of exploration, craftsmanship, villainy, and the lure of the unknown.

The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime

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