So a few years ago I found myself in the Penn State Maps Library. They had a copy of The History of Cartography edited by David Woodward. I happened to google the book and found that it's available online for free in pdf form!

Here's the book: The History of Cartography by David Woodward

The series has 6 books in three volumes and each one is huge. I highly recommend giving it a look through.

Volume One
  1. Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean

Volume Two
  1. Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies
  2. Cartography in the Traditional East and Southeast Asian Societies
  3. Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies

Volume Three
  1. Cartography in the European Renaissance
  2. Cartography in the European Renaissance (Part 2)


Here's a random section I thought was neat: V2 B1 Ch3 Cosmographical Diagrams

I also copied some map elements from pages 542-578 (I can't remember which book). It's separated into pdf's by chapter so I'm not sure where exactly my icons came from or I'd have a link to the originals. I'm not sure if this should be a separate post under "elements" but here you go:

Coasts, cliffs, hills, rivers, forests, swamps
geo elements.png

Cities, farmland, vineyards, mines, a windmill, something... a fish, a mile marker and another vineyard I think. I think the crossed out cities are flooded or otherwise ruined.
civ elements.png