Persons reading this blog will likely know of Sidney Sime by virtue of his illustrations for Dunsany. As far as I know, Sime's map of the Land of Dreams is not associated with any of Dunsany's works; it is, however, just as evocative. Since it pre-dates 1923, it falls within the public domain.
The name of the city is μούδιασμα, which means “numbness” according to Google Translate.
The detail is marvelous. A version of the map with greater resolution may be found here.
Wow, I haven't seen this in a long time. Sime did a lot of wonderful stuff. His work for the Dunsany stories is timeless.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. It's a great image.
ReplyDeleteI recently discovered this image as well. Lovely and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteA great map! I love the compass rose and scale. Interesting that it all kinda flows from Ultima Thule. I guess that is the gateway between our world and the Land of Dreams?
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Tim
Yeah, using winks as units of 'distance' was clever.
DeleteI assumed that the portal at the top-left was the gateway between the Waking World and the Land of Dreams; maybe because it's right above "Wake" on the compass rose.
I admit to confusion about the points on the compass. I would have thought "Wake" and "Sleep" to be diametrically opposite, yet it's Wake/Dream and Sleep/Nightmare.
Looking again, I think you are right that the Gate is the actual gate. I was thinking how Ultima Thule is legendarily at the top of the world, and there fore a transition between the two. But the gate and the "Wake" direction makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, as much as I like that compass rose, it is a bit confusing.
Timotheus
Any chance that the higher resolution image is still available?
ReplyDeletehttps://sorcerersskull.tumblr.com/image/95279820736
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