I'm fascinated by old maps, am I the only one to feel they are testimony from a world who disappeared

By no means are you the only one to find old maps fascinating, whether for serious historical research or simple interest in seeing how things have changed.

This can be considerable even within life-times, although many changes might be clear only on detailed maps such as those by the UK's Ordnance Survey, and their equivalents in other countries.*

The very old ones were often works of art, hardly accurate but hand-plotted and often ornamented with all sorts of fanciful but extraneous guff in the margins.

.....

* I have used those of France and Norway as well the O.S, all three being comparable in general style and level of topographical and human-made details.