Penny University Library

Map Information

The Publication Map plots the number of editions of each publication within the library. It showcases data concerning authors, printed publication titles, cities, countries, and publishers. The primary publication is dark gray, and the secondary is light as we do not fully know where this edition was printed. Due to the vast number of texts and their overlap of printing places, color would be confusing for plots. Thus, dark grey has been used and the user can select different books to understand the different activities that went into creating a book. It should be noted that this is not where the books were fully read but where they were published. Books would be sent to other countries and cities due to censorship laws, finding larger markets, and a plethora of other reasons.

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Map Points:

• Publication.

• Publication location.

• Number of editions of publication in that city.

Table Points:

• Publication location.

• Title that publication was published under.

• Name of publisher.

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Editions

A key component of the book trade was editions. Dr. Gary Kates has called the book the Age of Enlightenment's building block and the making of an edition its central event. Every book is the result of different activities within the eighteenth century. The author must write the manuscript for a book, a printer/publisher must create a book out of the manuscript, the book is available in the marketplace wherever it is sent, and readers encounter this particular book. Due to the number of hands involved in producing a single edition, the book trade was unstable, leading to a variation between editions.

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Design and Names

The names of places that are 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, and 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 publications 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.