European topography in eighteenth-century manuscript maps

'Eighteenth-century Europe was a continent at once divided yet united. If divided - by dynasties and kingdoms, politics and religions, and, perhaps above all, by geographical borders - it was also distinguished and unified by the emergent and powerful inscriptive authority of military engineers, topographical surveyors and artists who reflected the will of monarchs and wealthy patrons in maps, drawings and depictions of Europe's topography. European Topography in Eighteenth-Century Manuscripts Maps presents a compelling and beautifully illustrated argument for the central role of military topographers in Europe's Enlightenment: in a language of symbols, and colour, line and tone all revealed here in their manuscript state, maps show not only how Europe and its many geographies looked, but also how teams of state-sponsored map makers worked, how European space was being thought about and how it might be realised anew in the future'. (Charles W. J. Withers, University of Edingburg)