“A sumptuously illustrated volume.”

Toby Lester | Boston Globe

“Maps of Paradise is a highly readable yet deeply learned journey into how ‘humankind has yearned for a timeless elsewhere’, searching for ‘perfect bliss, remote either in time or in space.’”

Jerry Brotton, Queen Mary University of London | History Today

“Numerous beautiful color illustrations make this book a visual treat, and each chapter contains a ‘Visual Interlude,’ which gives a close analysis of a particular cartographic image. [It] will be very welcome to students and to learned amateurs who would like to explore this fascinating topic.”

Journal of Historical Geography

“Enough verve for a wider audience yet enough scholarship for students and academ­ics. . . . The result is a visually impressive and thought-provoking study showing how people perceived, situated, and mapped Eden over time. . . . Because the notion of paradise is so long lived in Western thought, Scafi is able to write both an intellectual history and a history of cartography following one idea through time. Maps of Paradise serves as a wonderful and colorful adjunct to those who already have his similar 2006 work Mapping Paradise; it is a great introduction for those who are unfamiliar with Scafi’s earlier work.”

Gene Rhea Tucker, Temple College | Historical Geography

“The topic of Alessandro Scafi’s mesmerizing Maps of Paradise is the cartographic representation of the Garden of Eden from the first millennium to the present day. It is the culmination of years spent immersed in the subject and while it is certainly more condensed than his Mapping Paradise… it lacks none of its authority.”
 
“Because of the nature of the subject, which encompasses art, science and theology among other fields, it will appeal to both scholarly and amateur readers with a variety of interests.”
 
“[The images and text] make the erudite journey of discovery that Scafi’s book offers readers tremendously enjoyable.”

Dominic Bate | Print Quarterly