Book review essays: A new national atlas

Summary

This is an academic review of the Atlas of Ireland, published by the Royal Irish Academy in 1979. The author traces the atlas's forty-year compilation journey since its inception by Professor Eva Taylor in 1938, highlighting its triumph over formidable obstacles such as political division, financial constraints, and a shortage of experts. The atlas comprises about 200 maps, covering physical geography (e.g., glaciation, soils, climate), human geography (e.g., population, agriculture, industry, transport), and historical geography. The review lauds the atlas's immense scholarly value, asserting that it not only showcases significant progress in Irish geographical research but also serves as a crucial foundation for future studies, standing comparison with the finest national atlases of countries like Sweden and Finland.