1863 propaganda broadside with map of Progress of the Union Armies
A powerful 1863 broadside marshaling recent events, statistics and a striking persuasive map to demonstrate recent progress of the Union armies in the field and forcefully rebut Copperhead attacks on the Union war effort. This broadside was probably issued at a high point for the Union in the late Summer of 1863, following among other […]
![Bruno / Imp. Paul Dupont, LIRE LA BASTILLE Journal Hebdomadaire Illustré ANTIMAÇONNIQUE [“Read La Bastille, the Illustrated Weekly Anti-Masonic Newspaper”]. Paris: [Paul] Copin-Albancelli, ND [but ca. 1906].](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/BRM3157-Bruno-La-Bastille-ca-1906_lowres-e1538741005186-150x150.jpg)
Octopus map reflecting French anti-Semitism at the turn of the 20th century
A spectacular albeit noxious French persuasive map using the octopus motif to promote anti-Semitism and anti-Freemasonry. As in other European nations, French anti-Semitism has a long history, most famously manifesting itself in the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s and collaboration with Nazi deportation of Jews during the Second World War. In the public mind, Jews were […]
Iconic bird’s eye view of Mount Washington
A spectacular promotional bird’s-eye view of Mount Washington and the White Mountains, issued by the Boston & Maine Railroad. By the early 20th century the Lakes and White Mountain regions of New Hampshire were major tourist destinations, with a well-developed network of hotels and resort towns and villages. With the proliferation of the automobile some […]
A remarkable ” Historic and Prophetic Diagram “
A striking early 20th-century Historic and Prophetic Diagram, possibly in the Dispensationalist tradition, with a crude power that renders it a remarkable piece of American folk art. The Diagram is a riot of text, color and imagery, organized chronologically from 4004 B.C. to 1912 A.D., bracketed by the “Eternity of the Past” and “Eternity of […]
21 National Highways Association maps and other publications, owned by auto pioneer William C. Durant!
Archive of maps, pamphlets and broadsheets issued between 1914 and 1922 by the National Highways Association to promote its plan for a network of interstate highways funded by the Federal Government. Background According to the American Geographical Society, “The National Highways Association (NHA) was established in 1911 to promote the development of an improved national […]
Map perpetrating a North Texas oil fraud, 1919-1922
A striking persuasive map relating to an early oil fraud perpetrated by the Langford Oil & Development Company in Wichita Falls, Texas. Background Though drilling began as early as 1866, the Texas oil boom really began with the gusher at Spindletop in 1901 and continued into the 1940s, when the Texas Railroad Commission was finally […]
![Frederic M. Thrasher, CHICAGO’S GANGLAND PREPARED BY FREDERIC M. THRASHER 1923-26. [Chicago, 1927 or later.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/BRM3180-Thrasher-Chicagos-Gangland_lowres-e1538745830575-150x150.jpg)
Mapping Chicago’s youth gangs during the Roaring Twenties
Sociologist Frederic Thrasher’s remarkable thematic map documenting the distribution of Chicago’s youth gangs in the 1920s. Chicago’s Gangland was originally issued in 1926, housed in a pocket at the back of Frederic Thrasher’s seminal The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. Thrasher’s concern was not primarily with “The Mob” of Al Capone, but rather aggregations […]
Mapping the epicenter of American Communism… at Union Square!
A fascinating persuasive map by a noted right-winger, designed to expose the hidden influence of Communism in American politics and culture and its epicenter at New York City’s Union Square. The title of the poster is a reference to Ferdinand Lundberg’s 1937 book America’s Sixty Families, which portrayed the United States as an oligarchy ruled […]
Pictorial map conveying American military might on the eve of the Second World War
A spectacular pictorial map designed to convey United States’ military might and preparedness, produced as war raged in Europe but prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Recently featured in two important volumes on 20th-century mapping, Curtis and Pedersen’s War Map: Pictorial Conflict Maps 1900-1950 and Hornsby’s Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial […]
![S/Sgt. [Staff Sergeant] H. F. Brenner, The TRANSPORTATION CORPS IN THE European Theater of Operations. NP, ND, but ca. late 1945.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/BRM3156-Transportation-Corps-ca-1945_lowres-150x150.jpg)
Spectacular poster celebrating the contribution of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps in WWII
A spectacular and unrecorded cartographic poster celebrating the essential contribution of the U.S. Army’s Transportation Corps to Allied success in the European Theater during World War II. The Transportation Corps was established in July 1942 through consolidation of several functions and units previously distributed between the Quartermaster and Engineer Corps. The new entity was responsible […]
Evangelical map of the United States as The New Promised Land
An unrecorded variant of a very rare evangelical map making the case for the United States’ destiny as “The New Promised Land.” After more than 15 years in the map trade this is one of the first pieces I have been unable to crack. I’m sure there’s an interesting story here, so I share what […]
![[Mao on race riots in US] Mao Zedong, [Chinese title translates to:] Statement by comrade Mao Zedong, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in support of the Afro-American struggle against violent repression. April 16, 1968.] Peking, 1968.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/BRM3181-Chinese-map-of-US-riots-1968-e1538764349770-150x150.jpg)
Mao Zedong puts his own spin on race riots in America
An unusual Chinese-language propaganda broadside and map issued in April 1968, in which Mao Zedong spins the race riots that erupted after the assassination of Martin Luther King as “a component part of the contemporary world revolution.” This broadside features a statement by Mao Zedong printed in red Chinese characters at the top, arguing “that […]
Broadside arguing against land for peace, by an Israeli nationalist
An all-but unrecorded 1977 Israeli broadside arguing against any land for peace deal with the Palestinians or the Arab States, the arguments illustrated by interesting persuasive maps and graphic. The broadside is dated June 1977 and framed as “a message from an Israeli family to the President of the U.S.A,” i.e., the recently-elected Jimmy Carter, […]
1982 David Horsey map of “The World According to Ronald Reagan”
An entertaining 1982 persuasive map by David Horsey offering a liberal caricature of Ronald Reagan’s Cold Warrior world view. The map depicts the United States and Soviet Union wildly out of scale with the rest of the world. Reagan in full gunfighter regalia stands astride a hypertrophied California, while Leonid Brezhnev, teeth bared and wearing […]