Don Homuth has announced that he will donate the last known complete Square and Stationary Earth map to the Library of Congress, ensuring that it will be preserved for the ages. The only other copy of the map currently resides in South Dakota, but is damaged and incomplete.

The map, which draws from several Biblical sources, was originally printed in 1893 by Orlando Ferguson of Hot Springs, S.D., and outrightly refutes the idea of a round Earth moving through the cosmos. Ferguson was quite confident that his map, while odd, was entirely correct, but not so much that it could be used on its own. An inscription at the bottom of the map reads:

Send 25 Cents to the Author, Prof. Orlando Ferguson, for a book explaining this Square and Stationary Earth. It Knocks the Globe Theory Clean Out. It will Teach You How to Foretell Eclipses. It is Worth Its Weight in Gold.

The map is a bit of an oddity in its own right. Clearly, it is not entirely flat; it’s a circular with raised center and edges. Presumably, the shape was intended to mirror the observable effects of living on a globe without actually living on a globe. As a navigational device, it is surely a wreck. But as a piece of American and cultural history, it’s certainly worth its weight in gold.

If you’re interested in the minute detail, the History Blog has posted a massive version of the map.

(The History Blog via io9)

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