In this wide-ranging work, Tom Conley demonstrates that a "new cartographic impulse" during the French Renaissance gave rise to a new sense of being, one defined in part by the relationship between self and space. Conley traces the explosion of interest in mapmaking with the discovery of the New World, and discusses the commensurate rise of cartographic writing-writing that "holds, penetrates, delineates, and explores space." Richly illustrated throughout, The Self-Made Map combines art, geography, history, literature, and printing to chart a clear historical transformation, along the way linking geographical discoveries, printing processes, and political awareness.