The Navy League map of the British Empire was published by the venerable firm of George Philip and Son Ltd. under one of their imprints, the London Geographical Institute. In this period, they were one of the leading publishers in the United Kingdom with a particular specialisation in the educational market.

The Navy League was founded in 1894 although this was an official incarnation of a powerful lobby group which had an interest in maintaining the strength and depth of the British Navy since the mid 19th century. It created multiple imitators throughout the world including the Navy League of Germany and the Navy League of the United States. There were multiple versions of the Navy League Map of the British Empire issued from the beginning of the 20th century onwards, with the early versions being relatively scientific and data heavy and the later versions favouring more infographic and illustrative diagrams.

The map is quite simplistic. The emphasis is on the locations of the far-flung British Empire, marked in a deep red with several notations of British allies, dependants, areas of influence and territories. Although other international boundaries are marked, they are relatively faint. Some terrestrial infrastructure is marked, especially the railway network.

By contrast, the importance of the maritime routes is heavily emphasized, together with logistics points and undersea telegraph cables. Major and important ports are also given prominence. This whole picture is complimented by a series of infographic charts, diagrams and images illustrating the importance of maritime trade to both Britain and its Empire. Further diagrams indicate statistics within the Empire, such as population numbers and size. In the earlier versions of the map, these were generally portrayed in the form of a panel of text but as the map developed, its compilers felt that pie-charts and graphs were easier to grasp and more visually appealing, leading to their liberal use.

In addition to the infographics, the map is decorated with a collection of naval memorabilia, including rank sleeves, naval ensigns and flags and a charming collection of images on the lower border which chart the development of the British Navy from its earliest incarnation to the mighty modern battle cruiser, H.M.S. York. Thankfully, this also helps in the dating of this edition of the map. There is a mention on a panel of the Treaty of Washington of 1922 also known as the Washington Naval Treaty or the Five-Power Treaty but it is the presence of the York which is the biggest aid; it was laid down in dock in 1927 and completed in 1930, confirming that this map was printed probably shortly after that. The combination of decoration, infographics, history and appeal to national pride all integrated within one package was a highly effective propaganda tool used to educate and persuade. It was targeted at multiple markets, particularly schools and educational establishments and judging from the multiple versions and issues throughout the early part of the 20th century, it must have been successful. It would have received strong support from vested interests, yet, its size, expense and ephemeral nature means that it is now a very unusual map.

Printed colour. Our example is on its original rollers.

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