-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Pictorial Wall Maps of China and Asia Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:34:15 -0400 From: Bob Kibbee <[log in to unmask]> To: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]> All, Last year we acquired by a fortuitous accident a wall map of China. It's quite a pictorial extravaganza. A copy shows up on the Old Maps website, if you'd like to see it: http://www.oldmapgallery.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=2028 <http://www.oldmapgallery.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=2028> Their copy is in significantly better shape than ours. Author/Creator: Diakoff, John A. Title: Map of China / compiled by John A. Diakoff ; drawn by G. Primakoff ; [and] engraved by P. Sergeeff. Published: Harbin : Northern Trading Co. & V.F. Yao-hsiun, 193-? Description: Map Scale 1:3,200,000. 1 pictorial map : col. ; 137 x 191 cm. Notes: Submaps: January isotherms.--July isotherms. Photographs of scenes in decorative border. "Approved by: Department of Education of the Three Eastern Provinces, Institute of Oriental and Commercial Sciences and Pedagogical Institute, Harbin. Recommended for use in Middle and High Schools." In English and Chinese. Map Format: Scale 1:3,200,000. We already had in the collection a map of Asia by the same cartographer: Author/Creator: Diakoff, John A. Title: Map of Asia / compiled and drawn by John A. Diakoff. Published: Shanghai : Educational Publishing Co., [ca. 1936] Description: Scale [1:8,851,392] 1 cm. = 55 miles. 1 map : col. ; 100 x 128 cm. Notes: Relief shown pictorially. Includes insets: Rainfall, forest type, ethnographic map, culture map. Pictorial map. Vignettes in margins. Map Format: Scale [1:8,851,392] 1 cm. = 55 miles. I'm wondering if any one knows anything about the maps, their creator, or the publishing houses. According to the title block they were produced for educational purposes. But for what market? And why was someone in Russian Manchuria in the 1930s producing maps of China with English titles and labels? Bob Bob Kibbee Map & GIS Librarian Map and Geospatial Information Collection B17 Olin Library, Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853-5301 voice 607-255-9566 / fax 607-255-3609