If you are, as I am, fascinated by maps of cities (from the imaginary ones in fantasy novels to modern street directories), then Envisioning the City should appeal. The six studies it contains are academic papers, but accessible to those without a background in cartography or urban planning. While they go into the details of individual maps, they also provide the background needed to put them in context. Four of the studies are of early modern Europe. Naomi Miller describes a collection of maps (of leading Italian and Islamic cities) added in the Renaissance to manuscripts of Ptolemy's Geography. She gives a general introduction to Renaissance city plans and their antecedents, followed by descriptions of the nine or ten maps in the collection. In a study of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain, Richard Kagan distinguishes depictions of the city as urbs (a physical city) and civitas (a community). The latter vision predominated, often associated with religious symbolism and civic pride, while more accurate chorographic representations were mostly produced by outsiders or for military purposes. Martha Pollak writes on the importance of military architecture and cartography in early modern Europe, concluding that "historic urban cartography is indelibly linked with military strategy and planning". And David Buisseret's own "Modelling Cities in Early Modern Europe" surveys the history of relief plans (such as those in the collection in the Musée des Invalides in Paris).

The opening and closing papers in Envisioning the City extend its temporal and geographical reach considerably. In "Mapping the Chinese City: The Image and the Reality", Nancy Steinhardt presents some examples of early Chinese city plans and traces their connections with other aspects of culture, notably with calligraphy and painting. "Mapmaking in premodern China was not a technical exercise striving toward accuracy but an art among elite arts in which service of state and associated lofty purpose of virtue can supersede truth." And Gerald Danzer describes Burnham and Bennett's 1909 Plan of Chicago, sketching the background of its authors and then analysing some aspects of its layout.

For anyone interested in the history of Jamaica, this is a real treasure trove of a book. It is chock full of photographs, historic and modern maps, and historic prints on most every page. After describing the land and people before Columbus arrived, Buisseret covers the 16th c. Spanish period, the 17th c. invasion of the English, the 18th c. plantation system, 19th c. emancipation, and 20th c. independence, often giving fascinating tidbits of information that are hard to find elsewhere.
The modern aerial photos, by J. Tyndale-Biscoe, along with complimenting maps, of nearly every historic site mentioned are entrancing. You get a thorough tour of the island without having set foot there, along with a good overall history lesson spiced with intriguing details.
For any student of Caribbean piracy, this is a must. Much coverage is given to Port Royal, Spanish Town, and many other sites from the Buccaneer Era and Golden Age of Piracy.
The crown jewel of this book is the frontispiece - a reconstructed sketch map of Port Royal "as it may have appeared in about the year 1690", with streets, houses, major buildings, forts, wharfs, and landings, drawn by Oliver Cox in 1991.

With its wealth of detail & eyewitness accounts (numerous direct quotes from visitors, residents, and administrators of Port Royal), this book is a treasure trove for anyone who wants to learn about the same wicked town familiar to the pirates & buccaneers of the late 17th century.
Having recently traveled to Port Royal, it was still difficult to imagine the city in its heyday. The city (now actually a sleepy village) and its surroundings has been changed so much by disaster (three major earthquakes, more than a dozen hurricanes, and several fires) and natural evolution. The biggest change came when two-thirds of the city sunk under the water in the 1692 earthquake. It's as if the pre-1692 city existed in an alternate universe, with the boundaries slightly shifted, and the veil of time cast in between. The accounts in this book help to lift several of the veils to provide a glimpse of what the famous Port Royal might have looked like - the city where buccaneers walked the street, the "Sodom & Gomorrah" of the New World, a city that rivaled Boston in size and shipping traffic.
The 1st edition of this book was published in 1974, but this 2nd edition has been able to include many of the findings of archeological work and research done in the interim. Fascinating tales abound within it's pages about the ship captain turned pirate who easily escaped from the prison, about the return home of the governor's widow, of the petty infighting between Lt. Governor Morgan (the famous ex-pirate) and new Governor Lord Vaughn, and much more.
See plans of the streets and buildings of Port Royal. Read of everyday life in this city, of the grandeur of gala receptions and celebrations for the King's birthday, of the various religions represented (including Quakers and Jews). Fird hand descriptions of actual taverns and brothels are given, including accounts of the available activities and entertainments.
Following an entire chapter on the 1692 earthquake, subsequent chapters tell of the strategic importance held by this English naval port where many famous British officers were stationed (including Admiral Nelson), on up to modern times.
The various charts and lists in the Appendices are fascinating to pour over: names of ships, tradesmen and craftsmen, ministers, and even taverns. While full of details, footnotes, and references, this book is written in a very approachable fashion, and will interest the casual reader as well as the scholar. Whether researching for an historical book, a fictional story, movie, documentary, or developing a reenacted persona, if you have any interest in the history of Port Royal, or of Jamaica in general, I can not recommend this book enough.