Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #625967 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 850 pages

Synopsis
Throughout the ages, writers have created an astonishing diversity of imaginary places, worlds of enchantment, horror and delight. This guidebook takes the reader on a tour of more than 1200 imaginary cities, islands, countries, and contintents, from Homer to the late 1990s. Places visited include Atlantis, Dracula's Castle, Middle Earth, Baskerville Hall, Utopia, and Earthsea. The inspiration comes from writers as diverse as Lewis Carroll, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sir Arthur Conan doyle, L. Frank Baum, C.S. Lewis, John Lennon, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Graham Greene.

Customer Reviews

a real beauty!
This hefty tome is an absolute must for anyone with a love of the fantastical and bizarre in their reading matter. The authors have taken some of the most famous imaginary locations from classic fantasy fiction and described them as though they were real places you could visit, complete with maps and some very atmospheric line drawings. You get all the famous ones here, such as Tolkein's Middle Earth, Gormenghast Castle, Hogwart's School, plus the sinister town of Arkham used by H P Lovecraft in some of his stories, Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia, and Skull Island (home of King Kong). The inclusions are of an impressively broad scope, ranging from Noddy's Toy Town (!) to the Marquis de Sade's Chateau Silling in "120 Days of Sodom"! But this only serves to make the book even more of an unexpected delight, and one you will never get tired of dipping into. The authors have certainly done their homework well.

Incredible refrence to all your fantasy needs!
If you've ever read Lord of the Rings and wondered where Dol Armoth or Rivendell are or gandered through Oz only find yourself bamboozled at the question: Is Mr. Yopp in Quadling Country? This book is the travel guide to all things imagimary. From Umberto Echo's Abbey of the Rose to Xanadu, this book quenches your thirst for adventure!

Well-done, but incomplete....
This is a delightful book. The entries are, on the whole, well written in a sort of "travel guide" fashion, with occasional snippets of advice for individuals visiting the places described. There are maps provided of many of the locations, which are universally excellent. Unfortunately, there are glaring gaps in the work's coverage, the reasons for which are never made clear. There's no sign of Moorcock's Melnibone, for example, nor any of Howard's Hyborian or Thurian kingdoms; Burrough's Pal-ul-don and Pellucidar are there, but not Barsoom or Amtor. Whilst there may be copyright issues in some cases, it is interesting that the authors have managed to cover Middle Earth, Narnia, Earthsea, Hogwarts, etc, with little difficulty.
An excellent guide as far as it goes, and very useful for tracking down all those places mentioned in the almanac at the back of the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", volume 2, the omissions take it down from five to four stars.