The Ends of the Earth

A Miniature Map Portfolio
2" x 1 1/2", with two maps, each 2 3/4" x 2"

It's amazing to realize how recently the North and South Poles were explored and mapped; a man only reliably reached on the North Pole in 1968 (on a snowmobile!). But not for want of trying. At the end of the 19th century, explorers finally had the support and technology to attempt the Poles with some chance of both getting there and surviving the trip back. Even so, the accounts of Arctic and Antarctic exploration make some of the most harrowing reading in the history of an already hair-raising genre.

THE ENDS OF THE EARTH is a miniature portfolio containing maps of the North and South Poles just before the beginning of their late 19th/early 20th century exploration. The maps are surrounded with pictures of the Poles' most famous explorers, who are listed on the back of each map's folder.

The portfolio is bound in antique cream kid leather, held together by a thin leather strip that winds around it. The interior is lined with a translucent Japanese paper printed with small white dots that look a bit like snow. Pockets of the same paper hold cardstock folders containing the maps, arranged in such a way that the maps blossom out when the folders are opened.

This product was added to our catalog January 23, 2010