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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
If you're feeling in need of a bit of inspiration to keep your New Year Resolutions on track, take a look at this mid 19th century German engraving of outdoor gymnastics - I would say "for all shapes and sizes", but of course there is not a woman to be seen... Yes, there is so much to be learned from the vintage image about our world - like doing one of those "what's missing" puzzles... Our very best wishes to one and all for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2012.
Thanks for visiting oldimprints.com! Elisabeth, Craig, Cristina and Ms Fluff
Gymnastics - untitled engraving.
GYMNASTICS)
RRP: $95.00
Engraving, modern handcolor, 10 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches on sheet 11 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches. Very light, vintage pencil notation in lower margin (identifying "German gymnastics and acrobatic feats). light soiling in margins, overall very good condition. Thre
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The first weekend in December, Oldimprints.com and Asia Bookroom exhibited at the fifth Hong Kong International Antiquarian Book Fair. As in the past, we thoroughly enjoyed being in Hong Kong and meeting the diverse and interesting clientele from Hong Kong, China and many other parts of Asia. We were pleased to note that there is an increasing attendance of Chinese "Mainlanders" - proving the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers' motto which is "Amor librorum nos unit" - The love of books unites us. See more photos of the show on
our Facebook page
An article by Craig Clinton, co-owner of oldimprints.com, on the 'cock-eyed' maps of the Pacific Northwest's own map publishers, the Lindgren Brothers from Spokane Washington, has been published in the Summer 2011 issue of the Journal of the International Map Collectors Society. "The concept of the Hysterical Map was straightforward - it would be a comic map of contemporary reference as distinct from historically-themed pictorial maps documenting events from the past."
The Lindgren Brothers 'Hysterical Maps' are stylistically distinctive with their brilliant color, broad humor and silk screen printing, and occupy an important place in the field of 20th century comic maps.
The development of this genre is a phenomenon of considerable importance to American popular culture, linked as it is with a period when developing mass transportation systems brought travel and tourism within the means of a rapidly expanding middle class. Other examples of this genre are the comic maps that Ruth Taylor White designed for the Hawaii Tourist Bureau and the many comic maps published by Greyhound Buslines.
The article is prolifically illustrated - copies are available from the the IMCOS website.
Pictorial Maps of the Twentieth Century
are an area of collecting that has, until recently, received little attention by dealers, collectors, and libraries. However, along with the particular rewards of an unexplored area of collecting comes the frustration of the lack of documentation regarding the creative forces behind what was an explosive cultural phenomenon in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Pictorial maps have long appealed to me because they incorporate two of my interests: a fascination with other cultures (which for someone who has had a very peripatetic upbringing means all cultures!) and a love of pictures. Therefore, as I acquire these artifacts reflecting the popular culture and design aesthetic of their day, I endeavour to research their origins. Even if produced in relatively large quantity (often given away free, some with instructions to “pin on the wall”), many of these maps are now quite scarce because of their intended ephemeral nature.
MacDonald Gill’s
Wonderground Map of London Town (1913) has always struck me as a unique product from a rather pedestrian period of map publication: an outstanding graphic — an oversized explosion of color and humor—harnessed to the goal of publicizing a burgeoning popular transportation system serving a wide public base. Over time I gathered many other maps from the 1920s and 30s that showed a clear debt to Gill’s prototype and thought of them as being appropriately grouped under the umbrella term “wonder maps.” My article exploring this genre
“MacDonald Gill: The Wonderground Map of 1913 and Its Influence” appears in the Spring 2009 issue of the
Journal of the International Map Collectors Society. In this article, I discuss what were, for me, the unexpected influences behind the creation of the Wonderground Map and its innovative features, concluding with illustrations of subsequent “wonder maps” from around the world. Copies of the Journal can be purchased from the IMCOS website at
www.imcos.org. Pictured below is a sampling of these Gill-influenced maps.
If you find yourself falling under the spell of pictorial maps,
click here to sign up for my pictorial maps listing (a brief catalog that I will email on an occasional basis). I look forward to receiving
your particular interests in this field and comments on my article and any information you can share on the artists and publishers behind these striking images which provide such an entertaining glimpse into our past.
Email me if you would like to be informed when a particular map displayed below is available for sale.
Click here to view a selection of our pictorial maps of the United States
This is a section of the Wonderground Map, showing some of its distinctive characteristics including the "speech bubbles."
Colour of an Old City. A Map of Boston Decorative and Historical. Designed by Edwin Olsen and Blake Clark, published by Houghton Mifflin 1926. Color pictographic / pictorial map, 28 x 37 inches on sheet size 28 1/4 x 37 1/2 folding as issued to 9 1/2 x 12 3/4 into color pictorial envelope.
Edwin Olsen and Blake Clark (illus).
A Kite View of Philadelphia and the Sesqui Centennial International Exposition. (Envelope title: This is a Section of the Map of Philadelphia Contained in this Envelope Size 28 1/2 x 37 1/2 inches). Color pictographic / pictorial map on sheet 28 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches, folding as issued into a color pictorial envelope 10 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1926.
Edwin Olsen and Blake Clark (illus).
Map of the City of Washington in the District of Columbia shewing the Architecture and History from the Most Ancient Times Down to the Present. Cover title: The Capital Map.
Color pictographic / pictorial map 27 3/4 x 36 1/2 inches on sheet size 28 x 36 3/4 folding as issued to 12 1/4 x 9 1/2 into color pictorial envelope. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston. 1926.
39375 Farrow, C.V. (illus).
A Map of the Wondrous Isle of Manhattan (The Scale is all Askew). Cover title: A Map of the Wondrous Isle of Manhattan. Color pictographic / pictorial map, 24 1/4 x 39 inches on sheet size 25 x 39 3/4 inches folding as issued to 10 x 12 3/4 into color pictorial envelope. Fuessle & Coleman. New York. 1926. On envelope: Published by the Washington Square Book Shop.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge Map. 28 1/2 x 38 inches. John Sands. Sydney. No date. Ca. 1932. This map was designed and drawn by Russell Sydney Lloyd of Bondi, Sydney; figures were drawn by Miss Vic (?) Cowdroy. Printed by John Sands, Pruitt Street, Sydney. Commemorates the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on March 19th, 1932. Printed around border: Breathes There A Man With Soul So Dead Who Never To Himself Hath Said "This is My Own, My Native Land."? If Such There Be, Go Mark Him Well!. (Sir Walter Scott)
