Antique Maps

Cartography was once the stuff of adventure and madness; mapmakers were visionaries, scientists and artists all at once.

Evocative of an age when the heavens were alive with more than satellites and America was a place off the edge of the world, these journals are a romantic’s delight. The maps date back to the mid- 17th century, an age of map-making when beauty and invention often compensated for a lack of accuracy. Full of both nave assumptions and intense attention to detail, these maps are perfect to muse upon while charting or recording your own life’s story.

Originally released in 1994 as a part of one of the earliest Paperblanks collections, these two antique, richly coloured maps have always been a source of inspiration for our designers. It is our pleasure to bring back these ever-intriguing examples of early cartography as we close our year of 25th- anniversary celeb