Mapmaker

MAPMAKER, MAPMAKER, LEND ME YOUR SKILLS

  Why NOT use original maps?      Why NOT use photos from the Internet or from books?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind . . . .

  

NOT ALLOWED - unless one is willing to pay for lawsuits and copyright violations 

= BIG BUCKS!

What is an author to do, when writing the life-story of someone who lived 170 years ago, who travelled far and wide, across oceans and seas, and over and around mountains, and through swamps and wild terrains?  An author needs maps!

A witty poet (E.C.Bentley) wrote a verse for us!   

                                                                       The art of Biography

                                                                        Is different from Geography.

                                                                        Geography is about maps,

                                                                        But Biography is about chaps.

He wrote that a long time ago, but it's still true.  What does a biographical author know about maps? Goose-egg?

I could LOOK at maps - but NO  NO  NO  - not allowed to use them in Dr. Dillon's book.

In despair, I sat down.  I felt down.  I looked down.  My writing world was truly DOWN.

Then, I thought about maps, and how at school we had traced maps, coloured maps, labelled maps, memorized our own maps. 

I told myself: "You can do this."

And I did it - I traced maps, I coloured maps using felt pens still beside me from when my kids were in Elementary School and my publisher said, "Good job, good maps."  

This video, by Cameraman Brennen Cross, shows what I did to get an outline map of Ireland: 

I used a glass-topped table with a bedside lamp underneath

Kipling wrote:   

                 Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick on the mud;

                 And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart.

                 Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?"

Not Art, but these maps are drawn with love and care, and they ARE good enough! They illustrate what's what.

As for the photos, I have pirated from the collections of all who followed Dillon's Trail through Tanzania in 2004.  These good companions charged no copyright fees, seek no gain, and offered their art unconditionally.  They are Troopers in my eyes.

Our Adventure through Tanzania is described in Dr. Dillon's book, in a full chapter, loaded with photos and written by Dillon's great-great-great-niece Jean, who lives in New Zealand and who was part of the Dillon Trail Expedition in 2004.

Next post - Family Trees Anyone?