Book reviews: Atlas of Morocco

This review assesses the first five sheets of the Atlas du Maroc, published under the direction of F. Joly by the Institut scientifique chérifien through the end of 1955. Three sheets address livestock distribution, breeds, markets, veterinary facilities, and administrative organization; two examine railway networks, passenger services, operating speeds, ownership, and freight flows. The maps employ proportional symbols, dot distributions, color coding, and supplementary diagrams at multiple scales. The reviewer praises the atlas’s generally clear and economical cartographic design, particularly the freight-traffic maps, and emphasizes the scholarly value of the accompanying explanatory booklets as geographical and methodological monographs. Some shortcomings are nevertheless identified: livestock-market symbols overlap excessively, certain ancillary maps contain too few place names, lettering quality is uneven, and the broad sheet margins appear wasteful. Although five sheets are insufficient for a definitive evaluation, the project is considered an important contribution because it fills a major cartographic gap between existing atlases of Algeria and Tunisia. Established in 1951, the atlas committee also prepares related studies and documentation, including work on toponymy. With 54 planned titles grouped into eleven sections and more than 100 projected sheets, the atlas promises to become a comprehensive representation of Morocco’s physical and economic geography, provided that the intended annual publication rate can be maintained.