Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
![[Title of recto translating to “Vietnam in Battle” / title of verso translating to “The Power of People’s War is Incomparable; The Tet Offensive Victory is Earth-Shaking.”]. Beijing: Ditu chubanshe (Cartographic Publishing House), distributed by Xinhua shudian, February 1968.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BRM3612-Fighting-Vietnam-1968_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A Communist Chinese propaganda poster featuring two persuasive maps of Vietnam and touting the supposed success of the Tet Offensive. Published in February 1968 during or just after the Offensive. Launched on January 30, 1968 by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) acting in coordination, the Tet Offensive was a massive surprise […]
![[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 […]
Ten striking propaganda Newsmaps published by the U.S. War Department during the Second World War, covering roughly the period between the surrenders of Nazi Germany and Japan. Unusual in being accompanied by their original War Department mailing envelope. This run of Newsmaps is not continuous, but all were issued between May 7 and August 13, […]
A mammoth and colorful ” Nav War Map ” issued by the U.S. Navy Department near the end of World War II. This impressive, separately-published propaganda map was produced to emphasize the vast scale on which the U.S Navy operated during the Second World War. It gives particular attention to the Navy’s role in protecting the […]
Unrecorded set of posters extolling the necessity and benefits of America’s strategy of nuclear deterrence and the importance of the B-1 bomber thereto. Given the vast sums and many stakeholders, major military procurement programs are inherently controversial, and the B-1 nuclear-capable bomber was no exception. It was in fact cancelled by President Carter in 1977 […]
A clever handbill with an iconic persuasive map arguing for the expansion of women’s suffrage in the United States. The handbill features a small map of North America, with the American states and Canadian provinces shown in simple outline, each shaded according to the political status granted to its women. The general pattern is of […]
![THE WORLD CANNOT LIVE HALF SLAVE, HALF FREE / THE PRUSSIAN BLOT. [Washington, D.C?]: State Council of Defense, [prob. 1917].](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/BRM3989-Half-Slave-Half-Free-1917_lowres-scaled-e1648299868567-150x150.jpg)
A striking First World War propaganda poster featuring a persuasive map with a blood-red “ Prussian blot ” spreading across much of Europe and the Near East. The poster’s context has been described ably by collector P.J. Mode, whom I quote in full: “From the outbreak of World War I until America’s declaration of war […]
The fatal March 5, 1770 riot in Boston—immediately rebranded by Patriots as a “massacre”—was immediately seized upon as a worthy subject for depiction in print. Revere’s “Bloody Massacre” engraving, pirated from a drawing by artist Henry Pelham, was advertised the Boston press as soon as March 26, while Pelham’s own version appeared just a week […]
![SPK [or] PSK, CONFIANCE… SES AMPUTATIONS SE POURSUIVENT MÉTHODIQUEMENT (“Have Faith… The Systematic Amputations Are Continuing.”) [Paris, 1941 or 1942.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BRM2896-Confiance_lowres-e1566946164870-150x150.jpg)
An iconic propaganda poster, published in German-occupied France and depicting Churchill as a badly-wounded octopus. Confiance was intended to undermine support for both the British and Free French forces in the early years of the Second World War. It features possibly the ugliest octopus ever rendered in print, bearing the face of Winston Churchill rendered […]
A fascinating Cold War relic blending Western propaganda and mundane tourist information, for distribution to new arrivals at West Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport in or around 1966. The Visitor’s Kit comprises a mimeographed welcome letter from Thomas A. Personett, Colonel, Commander USAF Berlin; two booklets, one recounting the recent history of Berlin as a contest for […]