| An Atlas of Fantasy | |
| Author: | J. B. Post |
| Illustrator: | various |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Fictional locations |
| Genre: | Fiction, Atlas |
| Publisher: | Ballantine Books |
| Release Date: | 1979 |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 210 |
| Isbn: | 0-345-27399-0 |
| Dewey: | 912/.1/398 |
| Congress: | G3122 .P6 1979 |
| Oclc: | 5149068 |
An Atlas of Fantasy, compiled by Jeremiah Benjamin Post, was originally published in 1973 by Mirage Press and revised for a 1979 edition by Ballantine Books. The 1979 edition dropped twelve maps from the first edition and added fourteen new ones. It also included an introduction by Lester del Rey.
To remain of manageable size, the Atlas excludes advertising maps, cartograms, most disproportionate maps, and alternate history ("might have been") maps, focusing instead on imaginary lands derived from literary sources. It purposefully omits "one-to-one" maps such as Thomas Hardy's Wessex (which merely renames places in southwest England), but includes Barsetshire and Yoknapatawpha County, which are evidently considered to be sufficiently fictionalized. The emphasis is on science fiction and fantasy, though Post suggests there exist enough mystery fiction maps to someday create The Detectives' Handy Pocket Atlas. Other maps were omitted due to permission costs or reproduction quality.
The maps are reproduced from many sources, and an Index of Artists is included.
Stephen L. Lortz reviewed An Atlas of Fantasy for Different Worlds magazine and stated that "An Atlas of Fantasy has provided me with many hours of entertainment as well as a number of inspirations for my FRP campaign, and in my opinion, belongs on the reference shelf of every Game Master and fantasist."[1]