Atlas of Outlying Islands

The Atlas of Outlying Islands won the Most Beautiful Book of the Year award in Germany (2009) and France (2010). The Czech edition was declared the Most Beautiful Book of the Autumn Book Fair in Havlíčková Brod (2012)

We feel the sea, hear the surf and seagulls, see glaciers and rocks. And we feel fine sand under our feet. Whoever opens one of the most beautiful books of recent times can get lost in the world like Robinson Crusoe.

In today's globalized world, it seems almost impossible that there are still hard-to-reach places. Nevertheless, Judith Schalansky found them: fifty remote islands, fifty dots in the world's oceans, bearing fairy-tale names such as the Island of Solitude, Pukapuka, Fangataufa or the Island of Disappointment. The author easily tells such absurd stories that she is only able to invent a reality limited to a few square kilometers lost somewhere in the ocean. They are stories about rare animals, strange people, shipwrecked slaves and lonely naturalists, lost explorers and deranged lighthouse keepers, forgotten sailors and mutineers, stories of longing and separation...

"Cartography should finally be understood as a poetic genre and the atlas as beautiful literature," declares the young author and graphic designer, who grew up in the GDR as a child and often traveled with her finger on maps. As proof, he brings a topographical and typographical work of art, informative and dreamy at the same time, composed of an original manuscript and hand-drawn maps in five specially selected shades.

"A beautiful book that combines lyrical storytelling and the art of mapmaking." [Time]

"If one wants to know what a wonderful planet one lives on, then this book is one of the best introductions to this complex subject." [Die Presse]

"A profound work of bookish art." [KulturSPIEGEL]

"Geography can be so fun and educational!" [Reinischer Merkur]

"The only thing that makes you sad about this book is that you would like to write it yourself." [Goldmag]

The thought-provoking and exciting book opens with a fitting quote: "An island can be paradise. Or hell." It's as if Judith Schalansky took us back to our childhood and warned: Better not even visit the places of your desire. Desire is more beautiful than reality.