Creative Commons Licensing

Fantasy maps have come to be associated with literary fiction: L. Frank Baum's Tik-Tok of Oz (1914), Winnie-the-Pooh (1921), and Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows (1931 ed.) are just some of the early literary fantasies which were enhanced by maps.

After J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954), the map at the beginning of a fantasy novel became standard. Many popular fantasy maps-- including Tolkien's maps of Middle-earth, the maps from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series, or even E.H. Shepard's map from the 1931 edition of The Wind in the Willows --remain under copyright (i.e., "All Rights Reserved") in the United States (although Shepard's Wind in the Willows Map is in the public domain in some other countries). However, there are many beautiful and unique fantasy maps available with "Some Rights Reserved" through Creative Commons licenses, or even with "No Rights Reserved" in the Public Domain. Examples of these can be found below. 

---Kris Swank, Pima Community College Libraries

Attribution: "Map of the Marvelous Land of Oz, Drawn by Prof. Wogglebug T.E." [endpapers to L. Frank Baum's Tik-Tok of Oz, illustrated by John R. Neill, Reilly & Britton, 1914] is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.

The first detailed map of the Land of Oz was included as the front endpaper of the first edition of Tik-Tok of Oz (June 1914), the eighth book in the very popular series set in the Wonderful World of Oz. As the cartouche indicates, the map was fictionally drawn by the Oz character Prof. Wogglebug T.E. [Thoroughly Educated]. Although the book's illustrator was credited as John R. Neill, David Maxine argues on his blog that the map was, in fact, likely based on early sketches by series creator, L. Frank Baum (1856-1919). The compass in the upper-right quadrant indicating the reverse positions of East and West from where they would be in Kansas, suggests that Oz is a mirror-world like Alice's Looking Glass Land.

Additional Citation: Maxine, David. "Map of Oz Monday - The 1914 Map of Oz." Hungry Tiger Talk [blog post]. April 2, 2012. https://hungrytigerpress.blogspot.com/2012/04/map-of-oz-monday-1914-map-of-oz_02.html.

Attribution: Bernard Sleigh, An Anciente Mappe of Fairyland: Newly Discovered and Set Forth, [London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1920?] is in the public domain because the maps in the Library of Congress Map Collections were either published prior to 1922, produced by the United States government, or both (see catalogue records that accompany each map for information regarding date of publication and source). The Library of Congress is providing access to this material for educational and research purposes and is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17 of the United States Code) or any other restrictions in the Map Collection materials.

Bernard Sleigh (1872-1954) was an English mural painter, stained-glass artist, illustrator and wood engraver, best known for his Fairyland maps which depict numerous places and characters from legends and fairytales. According to the British Library's Tom Harper, "An ancient mappe of Fairyland… was published in 1918, the year that World War I ended, so it is difficult not to relate the two in some way. Could the Fairyland constitute a yearning for a return to pre-1914 Edwardian innocence? Compared with the devastated, bomb-blasted landscape of northern France, this vision of a make-believe land may have seemed a seductive escape for a European society bearing the physical and psychological scars of mass conflict." In addition to the map depicted here, you can see more copies and adaptations of Sleigh's Fairyland map at the British Library and Library of Congress websites.

Additional Citation: Harper, Tom. "What is a fantasy map?" The British Library, 13 July 2018, https://www.bl.uk/maps/articles/what-is-a-fantasy-map. Text available under a CC-BY license except where otherwise stated.

Attribution: "100 Akre Wood [map]" [endpaper to A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, illustrated by E.H. Shepard, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1926] is marked with the Public Domain Mark 1.0.

The 100 Aker Wood map drawn by E.H. Shepard first appeared in 1926 as an illustration on the endpapers of A.A. Milne’s collection of children’s stories, Winnie-the-Pooh. Like Frank Baum's Oz maps, this purports to be drawn by an in-story character, here, the child-narrator Christopher Robin, while the real illustrator, E.H. Shepard is demoted to "helping." The British Library's Tom Harper observes, the map "cleverly imitates the style of a child . . .The labels are awkwardly written and full of misspellings. Clearly, Shepard intended for the map to acquire a reality of its own, which in turn was meant to reinforce the believability of the stories. Shepard could not resist a few jokes, including the four points of the compass [upper left] spelling out P-O-O-H" instead of the standard N-E-W-S. Possibly more than a joke, Shepard's compass, like that on the Oz map, locates the Hundred Acre Wood outside of the adult world.

Additional Citation: Harper, Tom. "What is a fantasy map?" The British Library, 13 July 2018, https://www.bl.uk/maps/articles/what-is-a-fantasy-map. Text available under a CC-BY license except where otherwise stated.

Attribution: "Map of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin is copyrighted to the Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust and is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND license. For more information, see the official website, https://www.ursulakleguin.com/maps-and-drawings-index.	Attribution: "Orsinia: The Ten Provinces [color map]" by Ursula K. Le Guin is copyrighted to the Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust and is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND license. For more information, see the official website, https://www.ursulakleguin.com/maps-and-drawings-index.

Maps were critical components of the worldbuilding and storytelling process for author Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018). According to her biographer, Julie Phillips, Le Guin's "first Earthsea fantasy novel began with a map of islands that she drew for herself in a paper-and-ink archipelago, which offered her the freedom to imagine who might live there." Maps helped Le Guin imagine many of her fictional settings: the imaginary European nation of Orsinia, the island world of Earthsea, the planet Gethen of The Left Hand of Darkness, Tau Ceti of The Dispossessed, maps of the Kesh from Always Coming Home, and many more. Although Le Guin only passed away in 2018, her legion of fans will not have to wait for 70 years for the public domain because her maps are already available to download and distribute under Creative Commons licensing. 

Additional Citation: Phillips, Julie. "Ursula K. Le Guin Was a Creator of Worlds," Humanities, Vol. 40, No. 1, Winter 2019, https://www.neh.gov/article/ursula-k-le-guin-was-creator-worlds

Attribution: "179-Griffin-Valley-hex-scaled [map]" by Elven Tower Cartography is released under a CC-BY 4.0 license.	Attribution: "171-Griffinholm-scaled [map]" by Elven Tower Cartography is released under a CC-BY 4.0 license.

Table-top role playing games (TTRPG) would hardly be possible without detailed maps. Several TTRPG map-creators offer some of their maps and map-making tools under Creative Commons licenses. For example, in Autumn 2023, Elven Tower Cartography released a large collection of their older maps under Creative Commons licenses. Saying that they wanted to "give back" to the community that has supported them for many years, they're designating a growing collection of images for all kinds of uses, transformative or otherwise, even commercial projects, and all they ask is attribution. 

Additional Citation: Elven Tower Adventures. “Creative Commons Collection - 1 - Elven Tower Adventures.” Elven Tower Adventures, 21 Sept. 2023, https://www.elventower.com/creative-commons-collection/.

Attribution: K.M. Alexander's fantasy brush sets are dedicated to the public domain under a CC0 1.0 public domain deed (i.e., No Rights Reserved).

Now that you've explored a variety of awesome fantasy maps, you may be interested in creating your own. Maybe you want to enhance your RPGs, supplement a novel you're writing, or embellish the bare walls of your living room. Author and digital cartographer K.M. Alexander has dedicated to the public domain his collection of fantasy map brush sets. These are digital tools which can emulate the marks of traditional art mediums such as calligraphy, stamps, and textures. Read more about his decision-making process at "Attribution Not Required". He also provides tutorials and advice on how to use his brushes. 

Additional Citation: Alexander, K.M. “Attribution Not Required.” K. M. Alexander, 18 July 2019, kmalexander.com/2019/07/18/attribution-not-required.