Though the political and intellectual history of mapmaking in the eighteenth century is well established, the details of its commercial revolution have until now been widely scattered. In The Commerce of Cartography, Mary Pedley presents a vivid picture of the costs and profits of the mapmaking industry in England and France, and reveals how the economics of map trade affected the content and appearance of the maps themselves.

Conceptualizing the relationship between economics and cartography, Pedley traces the process of mapmaking from compilation, production, and marketing to consumption, reception, and criticism. In detailing the rise of commercial cartography, Pedley explores qualitative issues of mapmaking as well. Why, for instance, did eighteenth-century ideals of aesthetics override the modern values of accuracy and detail? And what, to an eighteenth-century mind and eye, qualified as a good map?

A thorough and engaging study of the business of cartography during the Enlightenment, The Commerce of Cartography charts a new cartographic landscape and will prove invaluable to scholars of economic history, historical geography, and the history of publishing.

List of Illustrations
Monetary Units
List of Abbreviations
Part I: Making Maps
Chapter One: Getting to Market
Chapter Two: The Costs of Map Production
Part II: Selling Maps
Chapter Three: Getting and Spending
Chapter Four: Plagiarism and Protection
Chapter Five: Multiplying Maps: The Survey and Printed Charts of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island
Part III: Evaluating Maps
Chapter Six: Giving Pleasure to the Public: Telling Good from Bad
Conclusions
Appendixes
Bibliography
Index