Peter dedicates his life to maps
THE WORLD's largest atlas - measuring a staggering 5ft 10ins high - will be the centrepiece of an exhibition put together by a Crouch Ender who has dedicated his life to maps.
Peter Barber, who lives off Park Road, gave the world its first-ever glimpse of the huge tome, known as the Klencke atlas, ahead of the British Library's largest exhibition of its maps.
And as he prepares the ancient tapestries, maps and wall hangings to take centre stage, the 61-year-old head of maps at the library claims they reveal much than about our past than just geography.
Mr Barber, who has lived in Highgate and Crouch End all his life, has studied maps at the library for more than 35 years and claims they tell us more about how people viewed the world than history books ever could.
He said: "I have always been interested in pictures and what pictures can tell us about history, and maps are the same sort of thing.
"When people draw maps they are much more incautious than when they write books. You could say maps are the best works of fiction there are because everyone believes they are true.
"When you look at a map of the past, it tells you how people viewed the past and you can deconstruct what it was that people thought most important to them.
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Hornsey & Crouch End
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