“Atlas of Oregon 2ND Edition” by William Loy
December 12, 2001 | Tom Patterson
5 Comment(s)
I recently discovered the book “Atlas of Oregon 2ND Edition”
by William Loy.
You can see it here.
In my opinion, this is one of the finest examples of information design that I have ever seen in print. Page after page continued to delight me. I am wondering what others, Edward Tufte, in particular, think of it.
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The Atlas of Oregon (second edition) by William Loy, Stuart Allen, Aileen R.Buckley, and James E. Meacham is superb, ranking among the very best atlases ever. It has intense 3-dimensional resolution in exquisitely detailed maps (in the elegant style of Stuart Allen’s Raven maps). The statistical displays are detailed, clear, often fascinating, and up-to-date. And the entire atlas is beautifully designed and produced.
I include The Atlas of Oregon along with Atlas of Early American History by Lester J.Cappon, Barbara Bartz Petchenik, and John Hamilton Long (Princeton 1976) among my very favorite atlases.
Anyone interested in the state of the art in information design should buy this book ($40 paperback when discounted, $100 clothbound).I bought The Atlas of Oregon from, of course, Powell’s Books http://www.powells.com/
A fabulous atlas is the 3 vol. Historical Atlas of Canada, edited by Geoffrey J. Matthews and R. Cole Harris.
I’ll take a look at it. How could the publisher, the University of Toronto Press, let these 3 volumes go out of print?!
The CD version of the Atlas of Oregon 2nd edition is also superb. It was published in a limited run and has not been (I’m told by one of the authors that it will not be)reissued. If you can get a copy, grab it. The electronic Atlas is not just digital images of the Atlas maps and text. It was completely redesigned for digital presentation and viewing on a computer screen. The table of contents makes the digital chapters elegantly accessible. Many maps were redesigned to enable readers to explore them with digital tools. It is particularly good at showing change over time.
That should be another string for discussion here — how can we develop new, more effective ways to show geographical change over time?
I had the opportunity to work with Sue Trivit Clark as the assistant direction of the U of O map library for one year while Peter Stark, the director of the U of O Map Library, worked on an advanced degree in History. During that time I became very familiar with the people involved in the creation of this atlas. Their skill at producing top quality images never disappointed me. Stuart Allan’s series on the various states of the union was incredible. Professor Loy’s approach to the construction of this atlas was state of the art. I was thrilled to receive my copy of the new atlas and every page has the imprint of all their combined skills, of which I can see is considerable. I’m giving this masterful publication two thumbs up.
Wayne