Campbell, Tony, The Earliest Printed Maps 1472-1500. London: The British Library, 1987. ISBN 0-7123-0133-X. 26x20cm., xii, 244pp., illustrated, cloth. (Publications Sales Unit, Boston Spa, Wetherby, W. Yorkshire LS23 7BO, £40).

This will be a standard reference for many years to come.  There are 221 entries, many accompanied by lengthy discussions.  Not all are illustrated, but the 69 illustrations provide a good sampling.  The items described are essentially those listed in Destombes' Catalogue des cartes gravées au XVe siècle of 1952.  An amusing note mentions that Bagrow, who had published a catalog of early maps in 1951, must have been surprised when Destombe's Catalogue appeared so soon with double the entries.  That is every bibliographer's nightmare.  Many entries describe maps still appearing on the market, particularly Ptolemaic maps.  My favorite section is the appendix on excluded entries, especially the untraceable or undatable items.  There are some real mysteries there.  Scholars, and dealers and collectors of such material will find this work to be indispensable.  I believe it is distributed in the U.S. by the University of California Press.

David C. Jolly, 1989