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If, like me, you are a bit of a cartophile, then is for you. It is a small but perfect exhibition at the Weston Room of the Maughan Library, King’s College London, until 28 September 2025, showcasing historically significant maps lurking in the library’s collection, like this celestial chart from 1551, above.

There’s also Galileo Galilei’s treatise Sidereus Nuncius, displayed open at a map of the Pleiades star cluster, drawn from rigorous observations. It is in good company next to a book by Johannes Kepler showing an extraordinarily accurate plotting of a supernova, now known as SN 1604, or Kepler’s Supernova.

Plus, there is a section on medical maps with a 1903 study of sleeping sickness. This reminded me of the key role of data visualisation in the covid-19 pandemic.

There is even a on how the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library is using digitisation to investigate the late medieval Gough Map of Britain.