Peter Barber OBE
Series 1 Episode 3
The Heart of Maps: Plotting Imagery and Power
Series 1 Episode 3
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Welcome! In this episode, we are joined by Peter Barber, the former head of the British Library's map rooms, which hold more than 4.5 million maps! Peter is one of the world's foremost experts on European cartography.
Exploring a cordiform world map created in 1544 by Gemma Frisius (aka Fries), Jerry and Peter unveil the hidden messages from the map maker, and revisit Peter's personal history with the fascinating world of maps.
Cordiform projection
©National Galleries of Scotland
Fries created this map based on an earlier edition by his contemporary, Petrus Apianus. It uses a cordiform (heart-shaped) projection, which means that the world is presented in the shape of a heart rather than in circles or as a rectangle.
The map is dedicated to the powerful Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) of the Holy Roman Empire, shown above. Charles V was also the Duke of Austria, King of Spain, Lord of the Netherlands, and Duke of Burgundy.
It was a period of tremendous religious, social, and political upheaval in Europe, with the medieval Christian church undergoing the Reformation. This change provides important context for the map.
About Peter Barber OBE
Peter Barber was educated at Sussex University and the London School of Economics.
He worked at the British Library from 1975 until his retirement in 2015. He started in the Department of Manuscripts, where he participated in the cataloguing of the archives of the Dukes of Marlborough and Earls Spencer, from 1975 to 1987.
He spent the rest of his career in the Map Library of the British Library, where he served as Head of Maps and Topography from 2001 to 2015. He mounted numerous exhibitions, edited and wrote popular and scholarly books and articles on the history of maps and acted as a consultant to and appeared on a number of television programmes.
Peter's publications include Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art (with Tom Harper), and London: A History in Maps.
Peter is currently and a Trustee of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and of the Memorial Scrolls Trust. He is a council member of the London Topographical Society and of Lauderdale House (a historic house and community centre in Highgate, London). He is President of the Hornsey Historical Society (London). He continues to research in the fields of the history of cartography, London history, Italian Swiss emigration into the UK and Czech Jewish history.
Peter was formerly a member of the Reviewing Committee for the Export of Works of Art, Chair of the British and Irish Committee for Map Cataloguing Standards, a Vice Chair of the Friends of Kenwood and a council member of the British Art Medal Society.
A new episode of WHAT'S YOUR MAP? will be available every two weeks.
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