Dear Bernard, this may be a bit cheeky, but I'm trying to find out how authors who use maps feel about them. Are they there for the reader, or is it more perhaps? Do you use them as a planning tool? For any other reason? This is for an article I'm writing for the Society of Cartograhers Bulletin - I'm not a journalist, just a Cartographer who loves books. Yours sincerely, Elanor.
I love maps, I collect maps, and one of the frustrations is that I never see the maps that are printed in the books - they get delivered too late and are bound in at the last moment. I certainly use them as a planning tool - heavily - I'm writing about Alfred and Athelney at the moment and, though I've visited Athelney, I have a map board smothered with the OS 1:25000 maps of the Somerset Levels, and overlaid with an old 6" map. I know that the Levels have changed out of recognition in the last 1100 years, but the maps are still hugely useful. Alas, though, the maps in the books are often barely adequate.