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Bodleian Map Room specialist Debbie Hall gives a virtual tour of some of the library’s highlights, including unique treasures such as the 14th-century Gough Map of Great Britain, exquisite Portolan charts, and the works of famous mapmakers such as Blaeu, Saxton and Speed.

The Bodleian Library’s map collections include beautiful early maps, famous cartographic treasures, and quirky maps with stories to tell; they date from the 13th to the 21st century. Alongside the famous maps, there are lesser known but historically significant works: escape maps printed on silk and carried by pilots in World War II, a 16th-century woven tapestry map of Worcestershire, early tourist maps. Behind each of these lies a story of intrepid surveyors, ambitious navigators, chance finds or military victories.

Hall is a senior library assistant in the Map Room of the Bodleian Library.

Presented by the Bodleian Libraries.