E. M. J. Campbell · 1960
The *Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand*, published by the New Zealand Government in 1959 and edited by A. H. McLintock, is a comprehensive official publication comprising text, photographs, full-color maps, and a gazetteer. With over 100,000 words, the text covers the country's history, government, physical geography, resources, and population, supplemented by 25 excellent aerial photographs and 14 thematic maps at 1:3,200,000 scale, including geology, soils, vegetation, population distribution, land use, and manufacturing. Despite minor flaws, such as climate maps lacking scales and graticules and an inconsistent style for island territories, the atlas is highly praised for its quality and utility. The reviewer suggests that the government should fund a true 'National Atlas' to further aid national planning.
E. Reiner · 1960
This review evaluates A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, conceived as a national atlas in 1954, produced under state cartographic leadership, and published in 1959 with statistical information updated largely through 1958. It examines the volume’s organization, textual coverage, cartographic methods, thematic design, and use of aerial photography. The atlas combines 27 concise chapters on settlement history, physical geography, soils, land use, natural resources, economy, population, government, and dependent Pacific and Antarctic territories with topographic and thematic maps, indexes, a gazetteer, and 24 annotated oblique aerial photographs. The reviewer emphasizes the balanced integration of text, statistical tables, explanatory maps, and visual material. Particularly strong features include the treatment of tectonics and geomorphology, ecological changes following European settlement, land classification, and New Zealand’s post-1945 economic development toward greater diversification and a stronger domestic market. The cartography is praised for appropriate projections, restrained colors, legibility, and clear representations of geology, climate, population, and major cities. The aerial photographs are judged the atlas’s most valuable component because their mapped viewpoints and concise analyses connect landscape morphology with land use. Criticisms concern the absence of special maps for certain major regions, outdated-looking maps of administered Pacific islands, uneven geographic distribution of photographs, and poor readability where double-page maps disappear into the binding. Despite these limitations, the atlas is regarded as an aesthetically coherent, authoritative, and exceptionally informative synthesis of New Zealand’s geography, successfully linking landscape, society, economy, and cartographic representation.
The Editors · 1960
The editors review A. H. McLintock’s A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, published in November 1959 after a project first proposed for the 1940 centennial, subsequently prepared by the Historical Branch, and supported by an advisory committee established in 1954. They praise its production, cartographic workmanship and aerial photographs, highlighting the pre-European vegetation map’s synthesis of a decade of research, the detailed land-classification map, and useful soils and land-use commentary. They nevertheless find it inadequate as a national atlas or university reference, judging it best suited to households and offices. Full binding obstructs map reading and revision; map scales, symbols and layouts are inconsistent; some information is outdated, overgeneralized or geographically incomplete. The text varies in usefulness and accessibility, while landscape descriptions suffer from excessive condensation and unclear expression. The photographs also leave gaps in national coverage. Despite the first edition selling out and planned distribution to schools, the editors call for a clearer purpose, extensive rewriting, loose-leaf maps with explanatory texts, and comprehensive coverage of New Zealand’s life and economy, including historical research already undertaken.
