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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2004.04.004 Byline: Innes M. Keighren Abstract: In 1946, the American geographer John Kirtland Wright (1891-1969) proposed 'the study of the world as people conceive of and imagine it', a field of inquiry he termed geosophy. In espousing geosophy, Wright articulated a novel, humanistic perspective that formed a foundation upon which the subsequent development of perception and behavioural geography would be based. With reference to the contexts of its inception, dissemination, and reception, this paper traces the evolution and articulation of geosophy. Through detailed assessment of unpublished manuscript evidence, this study reflects on the disparate influences that conspired to mould geosophy's conception and development. Charting Wright's imaginary worlds -- his childhood fantasyland Cravay and the mountainous terrae incognitae of New England which he explored as a youth -- this paper highlights the interaction of imagination and perception that shaped and represented his geographical approach. Author Affiliation: Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK

This report takes as its prompt John K. Wright's 1925 'plea for the history of geography' - an early call for an inclusive account of geographical thought and practice, embracing both professional and amateur ways of knowing. In reflecting on the extent to which contemporary histories of geography realize the scope of Wright's ambition, the paper considers how external pressures, such as neoliberalism and academia's audit culture, function to shape and constrain the writing of those histories. The paper argues for the value of 'slow' scholarship as an act of political resistance and as a sine qua non of nuanced and comprehensive historiography. The report concludes by examining how biographical and genealogical approaches to narrating geography's histories have important implications for the decisions made about inclusion and exclusion, about what and who counts in geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst geography has formed an important yet often unacknowledged component in the description and analysis of print culture, its specific and potential contribution to understanding the making, distribution and reading of books has yet to be outlined fully. This paper seeks to describe the different ways in which Ellen Churchill Semple's 1911 volume Influences of geographic environment was received and understood – to explain why it was read both as a timely manifesto for a scientific approach to geographical research, and as a text which might damage the discipline's legitimacy. In exploring Influences’ trajectory of diffusion, I argue that it is possible to outline a geography of its reception – to reveal a locational particularity in its reading and reviewing. In so doing, I address questions relating to the epistemic and methodological bases of book geography, and describe the contribution that geography can make to explaining how knowledge and ideas, in textual form, are communicated and received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]