Paul Laxton – författare

In this collection of essays J. B. Harley (1932-1991) draws on ideas in art history, literature, philosophy, and the study of visual culture to subvert the traditional, "positivist" model of cartography, replacing it with one that is grounded in an iconological and semiotic theory of the nature of maps. He defines a map as a "social construction" and argues that maps are not simple representations of reality but exert profound influences upon the way space is conceptualized and organized. A central theme is the way in which power-whether military, political, religious, or economic-becomes inscribed on the land through cartography. In this new reading of maps and map making, Harley undertakes a surprising journey into the nature of the social and political unconscious.

Dr Henry Littlejohn's Report on the Sanitary Condition of Edinburgh (1865) was a landmark in urban management and public health administration. The Lancet described it as 'monumental'. The Report had a significance far beyond the boundaries of Edinburgh and his meticulous research produced penetrating insights into the links between poverty, employment and public health in Victorian cities. Insanitary City reproduces the full Report and sets it in this wider context. For over half a century, Littlejohn's career as Police Surgeon, Crown witness in murder cases and medical advisor to the Scottish Poor Law authorities, gave him an unrivalled overview of the problems confronting Victorian society. In 1895 he was knighted 'for services to sanitary science'.