Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
![U.S. Government Printing Office, THE BLOCK PLAN FOR CIVILIAN WAR SERVICES. [Washington, D.C.: Office of Civilian Defense], 1942.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BRM4037-Block-Plan-for-Civilian-Services._lowresjpg-150x150.jpg)
Rare and unusual organizational chart showing Office of Civilian Defense plans for mobilizing the home front during World War II. On May 20, 1941 President Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD), with the mission of mobilizing civilian volunteers to contribute to the country’s defense in case of an attack […]
![[Theodore Geisel and Munro Leaf] / Army Orientation Course, Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, [recto:] THIS IS Ann.. …she drinks blood! [verso:] NEWSMAP / MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1943. Washington, D.C.: War Department, 1943. Double-sided poster printed in color halftone, 34 ¾”h x 47”w at sheet edge. Minor smudging at one corner, else excellent.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/BRM3684-Geisel-She-Drinks-Blood_recto_lowres-scaled-e1685974088978-150x150.jpg)
A clever, striking and rather rare pairing of anti-malaria poster and pamphlet produced for members of the American military during World War II, illustrated by Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. The Japanese conquest of Indonesia and the Philippines in early 1942 cut the Allies off from their supply of cinchona bark, which provides the […]
A striking 1943 poster depicting options for Allied offensives against the Axis, drawn by Robert M. Chapin for Time magazine. The poster features side-by-side maps of the European and Asia-Pacific Theatres on a stereographic projection, giving the viewer the sense of seeing the Earth from space. The theatres of war are, in a sense, carved […]
A mammoth and colorful propaganda map of the North Pacific issued by the U.S. Navy near the end of World War II. This impressive, separately-published poster highlights events across the North Pacific, beginning with the Japanese strikes of late 1941 and early 1942. The attack on Pearl Harbor is highlighted, for example, by a depiction of […]
Thought to be the only known surviving complete example of a wall map made exclusively for the use of the Slovene Partisan High Command during the Second World War. From the estate of the Partisan general and war hero Ivan Maček. The map depicts the numerous Partisan military divisions across Slovenia and the eastern part […]
![SWPA NEWSMAP JAN.-JULY 1944 VOL. 1 [with:] SWPA NEWSMAP JULY.-DECEMBER. 1944 VOL.2 [with:] SWPA NEWSMAP JANUARY-APRIL 1945 VOL.3. [Sydney, Australia]: Information and Education Section, United States Army Forces in the Far East, 1944-1945.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/BRM2715_67-SWPA-Newsmaps_beauty-shot_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A nearly complete run of Southwest Pacific Newsmaps, documenting the war in the Southwest Pacific from January 1944 through April 1945. Highly informative, visually appealing, and very, very rare. During the Second World War the United States War Department published hundreds of weekly Newsmaps, for distribution to military installations, domestic industry and political leaders. These […]
![Prepared for CINCPAC-CINCPOA by 64th Engr. Top. Bn. USAFICPA / Installations overlay prepared by AC of S,G2 Fleet Marine Force, Pacific and Intelligence Section Amphibious Forces Pacific, IWO JIMA VOLCANO ISLANDS [:] SPECIAL AIR AND GUNNERY TARGET MAP. [Prob. Hawaii], mid-late November, 1944.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BRM4140-Iwo-Jima-Air-and-Gunnery-Target-Map-1944_lowres-scaled-e1654632841157-150x150.jpg)
A rare “Secret” “Special Air and Gunnery Target Map” map of Iwo Jima prepared in anticipation of the February 19, 1945 U.S. invasion of the island. The map shows the landing zones on the southeastern and southwestern beaches of the island, and, most importantly, the Japanese defensive installations throughout the island in minute detail… at […]
![U.S. Government Printing Office, [Nav War Maps 1 through 6.] Washington, D.C.: Navy Department, 1944.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/BRM3308-Nav-War-Map-No-1-Mediterranean_lowres-e1568215297699-150x150.jpg)
A mammoth and colorful “Nav War Map” of the Mediterranean issued by the U.S. Navy near the end of World War II. This impressive, separately-published propaganda map was produced in 1944 to highlight the strategic importance of the Mediterranean, which “offers many approaches to Fortress Europe.” It also emphasizes Allied successes there during the Second […]
![[Large archive assembled by American officer Augustus B. Hill while serving in the Office of Military Government for Bavaria.] [Various locations, 1942-1950, but mostly Nuremberg and Munich, 1945-1949.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BRM4278-Bavarian-Occupation-archive_beauty-shot_lowres-150x150.jpg)
An extensive and rich archive of material assembled by Augustus B. Hill an American officer serving in the Office of Military Government for Bavaria (OMGB) during the American occupation following the Second World War. Hill served in the OMGB from at least 1945 through 1949 and was primarily involved in matters relating to the reconstruction […]
![R[obert] M[acfarlane] Chapin, Jr., THREE-WAY DOOM. [New York:] Time, Inc., April 2, 1945 [but a bit later.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BRM2943A-Chapin-Three-Way-Doom-1945_lowres-e1568144898268-150x150.jpg)
A striking poster published in the waning months of the Second World War, showing what was left of the Japanese Empire being decimated by American bombers attacking from three directions. The map is a much-enlarged version of one printed in the April 2, issue of Time magazine. Mapmaker Robert M. Chapin (fl. 1937-1970), Chief Cartographer […]