In
Map our world has been turned on its head. What was water has
become land; what was land has become water. The Channel Tunnel has become
narrow straights. Britain and Ireland are inland seas in the vast landmass
of North Atlantica.
Simon Faithfull, Map, 1999
The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies –
Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
Such solemnity too! One could see he was wise,
The moment one looked in his face!
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much of please when they found
it to be a map they could all understand.
‘What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and
Equators, Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?’
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply,
‘They are merely conventional signs!’
Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and
capes! But we’ve got our brave Captain to thank’
(So the crew would protest) ‘that he’s bought us the
best – A perfect and absolute blank!’
Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark, 1876