Mantle of the Earth

Veronica della Dora is professor of human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a fellow of the British Academy. She is the author of Imagining Mount Athos: Visions of a Holy Place from Homer to World War II; Landscape, Nature and the Sacred in Byzantium; and Mountain: Nature and Culture.

"In its ambitious scope and humanistic approach, the book is an excellent example of the erudite scholarship that traces the emergence and mutability of an earthly imagination manifest in changing cartographic practices over time. . . . There is, for example, a brilliant exposé of how, in Renaissance Europe, the dissection of the mantle by mapmakers echoed the contemporaneous slicing open and pinning back of the tissues of the human body in anatomical science. . . . As an account of ideas and artifacts The Mantle of the Earth provides a sweeping backdrop to current-day scientific technologies and practices."

• Introduction: On Mantles, Maps, and MetaphorsPart I: Clothing Creation1. Mythical Cloaks2. Biblical and Byzantine Garments3. Medieval VerniclesPart II: Unveiling Space4. Renaissance Stage Curtains5. Drapes, Lights, and Shadows6. Romantic VeilsPart III: The Surfaces of Modernity7. The Surfaces of Geography8. Pierced Surfaces and Parted Veils9. The Green MantlePart IV: Weaving Worlds10. Cartographic Embroideries11. The Digital SkinEpilogueAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex