“The ‘Caliphs’ of the title notwithstanding, what this book delivers is more fascinating still, namely a deep dive into the interests and preoccupations of an ordinary educated Egyptian of the first half of the 11th century. . . . Essential reading for any medievalist and a must for university book shelves.”

Medieval Archaeology

“Reads like an academic thriller. . . . It is essential reading for anyone interested in premodern global maritime communications, the history of cartography, astronomy, and other sciences, and the Islamic (especially Ismaili) worldview. The authors are to be commended for their extraordinary work on this extraordinary manuscript.”

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

“This book is required reading. . . . A well-researched and provocative analysis of what is obviously an important text.”

Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture

“Until a few years ago, little to nothing was known about the Book of Curiosities, but the authors of Lost Maps of the Caliphs undertake to fill that gap with this detailed account of its history and the story behind how it came to be made. . . . The medieval maps that were included were both fascinating and unusual, perhaps especially so because they bear only a slight resemblance to modern maps. This book is worth a look for the maps alone, and scholars of medieval history, geography, or cartography may well wish to purchase it.”

Cartographic Perspectives

“A remarkable and important book of dazzling scholarship; as well as providing a definitive account of the discovery and significance of The Book of Curiosities to the history of cartography, the authors offer no less than a complete reappraisal of astronomy, astrology, and geography in the first four centuries of Islam. With its focus on eleventh-century Fatimid Cairo, The Lost Maps of the Caliphs reinterprets early Islamic apprehensions of the earth and the heavens, while reorienting our modern understanding of medieval Arabic mapmaking and its part in the transmission of Late Antique cartographic knowledge.”

Jerry Brotton, Queen Mary University of London, author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps.

“There is nothing quite like The Book of Curiosities. It provides a view of the heavens and the known world as these were seen from eleventh-century Egypt, extending from the realm of the fixed stars to Europe, China, India, and East Africa. The author’s cartographic method is tailored to his own aims, the stylized equivalent of the subway maps that now exist for major cities like London and New York.  Lost Maps of the Caliphs is organized along the lines of the original manuscript, and exceptionally well documented, using a dazzling range of sources in an equally dazzling range of languages. The result is totally fascinating, with untold potential to illuminate any treatment of the medieval world on any continent in the Eastern Hemisphere. New trade routes appear. Krakatau is shown in full eruption. The authors’ ability to clarify what we see and read is so great that the unfolding of this marvelous story somehow seems easy and natural—but in fact it is a triumph of careful, imaginative scholarship.”

Ingrid Rowland, University of Notre Dame

“This book starts with an exciting account of the discovery of the manuscript of the Book of Curiosities and the growing realization of its importance, a great story in itself. Since then the text has been published with admirable speed. This book is the first scholarly discussion of the maps, their sources, and their place in the history of Arab cartography. At every level it reaffirms the importance of the work. The two authors, Savage-Smith on the heavens and Rapoport on the earth, explain the maps with exemplary scholarship and lucidity. Like the manuscript itself, this companion volume vastly enhances our understanding of the classical Arabic world view in all its rich complexity.”

Hugh N. Kennedy, SOAS, University of London

“[An] outstanding study... Rapoport and Savage-Smith successfully reintroduce the Book of Curiosities to the history of Medieval cartographic knowledge and bring the Fatimid caliphate to the forefront of Islamic studies.”

Journal of World History

“Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith offer us remarkable political and intellectual contextualization for a work of a Medieval Arab geography.”

Medieval Encounters (Translated from French)

“This erudite and well-grounded study changes pre-existing categories of medieval Islamic science and its interaction with other traditions.”
 

Francia Recensio