We get it, Google Maps makes things a whole lot easier when you’re travelling, but, in reality, there’s not much beauty to be found staring at a screen. While it might be a little too heavy to tuck into your suitcase, the beautiful new book from Phaidon, Map: Exploring the World, recaptures the charm of tactile cartography.

Featuring 300 maps spanning 5,000 years of cartographic innovation – from maps dating back to the birth of cartography, to those by contemporary artists, western and non-western cartographers, and some depicting fictional locations – the book is a geography lover’s dream. And for those who just can’t admit that analogue is sometimes superior, there are also several cutting-edge 21st-century digital maps included. But this compilation is more than just a collection of maps. It also illuminates power struggles of geography, politics and religion and humankind’s tendency towards storytelling, exploration and creativity.