About Ex Carta
‘Map of Narnia’ by Pauline Baynes © 1972 CS Lewis Pte Ltd. Used with permission.
Ex Carta is the sister of The Sunderland Collection, and has its online home here at Oculi Mundi.
This is curation of world-building maps: iconic cartography from some of the best-loved stories that continue to enchant and inspire people around the world. Maps that evoke journeys, theoretical universes or realities, and infinite possibilities.
The purpose of Ex Carta is to showcase and celebrate extraordinary feats of the imagination, and to continue to inspire creativity, ideas, and the joy of story-telling.
Map from Dante’s ‘Inferno’ (1506) ©Ex Carta
As its name suggests, the maps in Ex Carta are printed. Some are from books; others are in the form of seminal Role Playing Games, films, computer game manuals, and posters. The collection seeks to show where world-building began, and how it evolved from books to in-person group experiences and beyond.
Map from ‘Zork I’ (1977) ©Infocom/Microsoft
The works in Ex Carta begin with the first printed maps of Dante’s Hell (1506) and continue through famous tales such as Treasure Island, the Jules Verne stories, Robinson Crusoe, Peter Pan, Winne the Pooh, The Lost World, Asterix, Oz, The Name of the Rose, Conan the Conqueror, The Lord of the Rings, the Narnia books, One Piece, and Game of Thrones.
Individual charts include maps of Faerie Land and The Land of Make Believe, maps from the worlds of Corto Maltese, Star Wars and Star Trek; and film prop maps from ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’, ‘The Mummy’, and ‘Harry Potter’.
Detail of map from ‘The World of Greyhawk’ (1980) ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Permitted under the Fan Content Policy.
Other highlights include a celestial globe inspired by Alice in Wonderland; RPG maps from The Call of Chluthu, Dungeons & Dragons, Runequest and Forgotten Realms; the first maps from the world of Pokemon; and printed maps and atlases of Myst, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, and The Elden Ring.
Ex Carta focuses on first editions in the original language. Like the human imagination and story-telling itself, the collection continues to expand.
More coming soon…
