Monumental, folding wall map of the world on two sheets with multiple insets on the lower border.

The earliest example of this wall map of the world we have been able to trace in an institution is dated 1881. No doubt, it was published to compete directly with Edward Stanford’s “Library Map of the World”, one of the firm’s most prestigious publications. George Philip and Son competed fiercely with Stanford and commissioned the prestigious firm of John Bartholomew and Sons to compile this large map on Mercator’s Projection. The early examples we were able to trace were published in a different format: a large elaborate portfolio contained six sheets which, when joined together, composed this wall map. These early examples lacked the combination of insets of famous ports, straights and canals important to world trade.

The map also bears a striking resemblance to “Johnston’s Commercial Chart of the World”, which is again on the same format and also bears several insets of important trading ports, hubs, canals and straights on the lower border. However, that map is not as aesthetically developed as those issued by the Philip firm.

This particular example is by far the latest we have seen. It is published in a different format than the previous six sheet examples, on two folding sheets within a red slipcase. Although no date is stated on the map, the geopolitical borders suggest a date of c.1900 or just prior to the Great War. The presence of British Central Africa dates the map to before 1907 when that region was re-named to Nyasaland.

Separate issue. Original colour. [WLD4747]