Looking for Information About Cartophilia

Hi, my name’s Ken Jennings.  I’m an author working on a book, to be published next year by Scriber’s, about map and geography enthusiasts of all kinds.  (I’m also the guy who was on the TV quiz show ”Jeopardy” for much of 2004, if that rings a bell.)

Here’s my question: The books on cartography I read all tend to use the same few excerpts over and over: Robert Louis Stevenson writing about maps and how they informed Treasure Island, for example.  Or the bit from Heart of Darkness about how Marlow was always fascinated, as a boy, with the “blank spaces” on the map.  So I’m looking for compelling (and fresher!) descriptions of
people’s personal love of maps.

In my research, I’ve come across a few less familiar accounts that I’ve really enjoyed.  This Gelett Burgess essay is very funny, for
example:  http://bit.ly/au9pba

And John Ruskin was a map geek as well:  http://bit.ly/acVckU

I’ve also unearthed a few great novels about map lovers, like Clark Blaise’s Lunar Attractions or Geoff Nicholson’s Bleeding London.

Do any of you have favorite passages about cartophilia, whether from fiction or non-?  On a related note, are there other famous names, past or present, who are on the record as map buffs?

Thanks in advance,
Ken
ken@ken-jennings.com