Six Representative European Atlases

Summary

This review examines six representative European atlases from the 1930s: the international edition of Stieler's Atlas, the Swedish Världsatlas, the Atlas de France, the Atlas of Czechoslovakia, and the regional atlases of Lower Saxony and Pomerania. It highlights the shift toward specialized national and regional atlases driven by national consciousness and economic planning. The author evaluates cartographic techniques, including relief representation, dot and areal methods, and inset maps. While praising the scholarship and technical quality, the review criticizes inconsistent treatment of cities and the misleading use of areal tints for total quantities. It concludes that these atlases offer valuable models for distribution mapping, though methods must be adapted to different geographic contexts.