This atlas reference reproduces some pages from five centuries of atlas-making, accompanied by cartographic and historical commentary. The maps are taken from Birmingham Central Library, one of Britain's foremost historical atlas collections. When Ptolemy's distance calculations led him to sketch the outline of the known world in the second-century AD, he not only became the first cartographer, but also founded an enduring art form. Bound into atlases, these maps plot the progress of humankind across the globe and provide a perspective on the world view through the centuries. A bequest to the Birmingham Central Library featured the first-ever atlases of the 15th century, including early atlases known as "Ptolemy's", after the ancient practitioner of the craft of cartography. There are also atlases by all the great cartographers: Mercator, De Wit and Waghenaer.