I am deliberately starting with the end of Plaut's article, ‘Some reflections and conclusions’, to draw attention to its ‘Leitmotiv’, the often-overlooked danger of theorising. Plaut maintains and illustrates, with maps and General Gordon's drawings, that a theory, seemingly objective and ‘proved by observation’, may, when examined later, appear to be reflecting theoretical conceptions current at the time of their introduction and also be related to the author's personal psychology. By combining knowledge gained from the study of his collection of historical maps with the exploration of General Gordon's character, Plaut is able to demonstrate just such a case of theory-building, its idiosyncrasy and its peculiar psychologic.

He starts with a classification of maps supposedly charting the terrestrial sites of the Garden of Eden. He calls it ‘Putting Paradise on the map in stages’, beginning with a map