Penny University Library

Author Map

Map Information

The Author Map plots out all of the publications by a particular author within the library to show the reach of a particular author using printers. It showcases data concerning authors, printed publications, cities, countries, and publishers. Each author is represented by a different color so the user can see their reach and compare them to other authors.

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Map Points:

• Author name.

• Publication.

• Publication location.

Table Points:

• Publication location.

• Title that Publication was published under.

• Translation of publication.

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Authors

One career that did not exist during this period was that of a professional philosopher, thus the majority of authors during the Age of Enlightenment were amateur gentleman scholars who wrote as a hobby to further their understanding in a particular area, advocate for a new way of thinking and change public opinion, or to achieve fame. Authors would write manuscripts and choose a particular publisher who would initially publish their work. After this initial process, their work was officially out of their hands and all the authors could do was send corrections to future publishers.

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Design and Names

The names of places used within the maps represent the majority of the eighteenth century. While the city itself is specific, the greater context tends to become more “ambiguous” depending on how much change is represented during the era or how disjointed the places are within the era. Additionally, historical lines or grids have been avoided due to the constantly changing boundaries of the era. The main purpose of the countries/states/continents is to give greater context for the specific city data. The map offers more detailed country information within the highlight cards.

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User Guide

Users can click on any of the authors within the Table Menu to highlight them within the map and get more details by clicking on individual marks. The user can also click on any of the points on the map to get more information about the publications. By clicking on the city name of the highlight card, one can pull up all of the books published in that city alone.