Atlas of Imagined Places: from Lilliput to Gotham City

Product Information

If such thoughts have kept you awake at night, then the Atlas of Imagined Places: From Lilliput to Gotham City (Batsford Books; 2021) is just the book for you. Written by Matt Brown, editor-at-large for Londonist, and co-authored by Rhys B. Davies, this gorgeous book builds upon Mr Brown’s idea to map approximately 1,000 fictional British places, earlier depicted in Londonist’s ‘Fake Britain’ map ( more here), which now is expanded in this volume to include more than 5,000 fictional locations around the world. Londonist editor-at-large Matt Brown, and co-author Rhys B Davies, have taken the concept to the entire planet in their Atlas of Imagined Places.

Matt Brown is author of 11 books for Batsford, including eight titles in the popular Everything You Know... series of mythbusting books. He has served as editor and editor-at-large of Londonist.com for many years, writing on topics as diverse as street art, politics, map-making and science. With a deep love of trivia, he's written and hosted hundreds of quizzes, including events for the Museum of London, London Eye, Royal Institution, Royal Society and Manchester Science Museum, among many others. All of his books use humour and playfulness as tools to explore the world. He is tweeting at @mattfromlondon. Yes. We've put together a public spreadsheet listing every location, with notes on why we chose the given location. Access it via Google Drive. Wait, you missed the home of that incidental character from Season 21, Episode 4 of Doctor Who. Please can you add it? Yes, we have. The master file of this map goes all the way out to the M25. It doesn't look the prettiest at the moment, because much of it is blank space, but we'd love to fill that in. Please do send us your best suggestions for Bromley, Sutton, Bexley, Havering and the rest, and we'll get mapping. Who helped?

Who helped?

In addition to the maps and the accompanying essays describing the twisty logic that the authors used to finally pin point where these famous locations from fiction are (most likely) located, the Atlas also includes an extensive index along with map coordinates so it is easy to find a particular someplace on the maps (although I think you’ll agree that a magnifying glass is essential equipment for reading these thousands of entries). The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out, but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home. Explore the imagined places in Central America and the Caribbean in this extract from Atlas of Imagined Places, which was awarded Illustrated Travel Book of the Year in the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards this week. From Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver’s Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.

Perhaps most surprising (to me, anyway, since it turns out that I grew up nearby) is the location for The Simpsons’ hometown, Springfield, the whereabouts of which the writers of the TV show are notoriously shy about pinning down. I had my suspicion confirmed that I did indeed grow up in The Hunger Games’ ruthless District One. As a lifelong dinosaur fan, I was excited that the mythical Isla Nublar, home of the ill-fated Jurassic Park, was also mapped. I also discovered a bounty of toys for any little girl or boy who wishes for a Christmas gift when I found the Isle of Mifsfit Toys. Another surprise for me was seeing that Winnie the Pooh’s home is next to where the Animal Farm revolution occurred.The maps also include fictional infrastructure, such as the great sea wall round LA from Blade Runner 2049, and the anti-Kaiju wall of Sydney from Pacific Rim. You'll also find the routes of fictional car chases, speedboat pursuits in Venice, the pilgrimage path of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and much more. Fictional London mapped Inner London The map was created by Matt Brown and Rhys B Davies. We'll list the names of anybody who suggests a fictional location that we decide to use. The atlas is sumptuously illustrated by Mike Hall, whose glorious maps and illustrations of London have long beguiled us. Perhaps the most densely populated map is London. Whole fictional boroughs such as Walford (Eastenders) and Canley (The Bill) are served by fictional tube stations such as Hobb's End (Quatermass and the Pit) and Vauxhall Cross (Die Another Day). A constellation of famous characters fill in the gaps. Spies James Bond, Alex Rider and George Smiley all inhabit the same cluster of Chelsea streets. Phileas Fogg could pop across the road into Grace Brothers, and dalmatians Pongo and Perdita could easily be spooked by the Invisible Man.

Besides the city maps, artfully drawn by illustrator Mike Hall, the book also includes plenty of mini-essays exploring the fiction of the 14 cities. These explain how the authors sleuthed their locations. Often, it's obvious from the source material, but sometimes a bit of detective-work is needed to pinpoint a fictional home, business or event.I stumbled across this and I got so enthusiastic sending in ideas and suggestions of fictional places that he took me on as co-creator. From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.

The book includes interesting discoveries including George Orwell's Animal Farm being located right next to Winnie the Pooh's 100 Acre Wood.

About Stanfords

Robert Louis Stevenson may not have invented pop culture’s vision of the Golden Age of Sail, but he certainly codified it. His classic adventure Treasure Island bequeathed to the world a romantic paradigm best encapsulated in Long John Silver, the ruthless sea cook complete with peg leg and parrot. A map like this can never be complete. London's fictional space is all but infinite. We've started the map with over 700 locations, but much remains to be added. The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out, but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you’ll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh’s home. From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to superhero Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.