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Timothy Brook traces the path followed by an ancient map of China, one that reveals China’s place in the ancient world in Mr Selden's Map of China: The Spice Trade, a Lost Chart & the South China Sea. Summary of the Book In 1659, an old map found its way to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It was bequeathed by Mr. John Selden, an English business lawyer and member of Parliament. Largely ignored for most of its stay, it found the interest of Timothy Brook, who was astonished at what it had to say. The map positioned China at the centre of the world’s trade routes, showing how it helped fuel Europe’s rise to power. The map brought several questions to light. How did it come to be possessed by John Selden, and where did it come from? In this book, Timothy Brook seeks to find the answers and tries to piece together an important epoch in Chinese history. About Timothy Brook Timothy James Brook is a Canadian Sinologist. He has also written The Chinese State in Ming Society, Death by a Thousand Cuts and Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World.