Pictorial Maps of Cities

Chicago. U.S.A. Designed by Charles Turzak and Henry T. Chapman. Copyright 1931, by Houghton Mifflin Company. Litho. in U.S.A. The Tudor Press, Boston. (on borders) An illustrated map of Chicago : youthful city of the big shoulders, restless, ingenious, wilful, violent, proud to be alive
An Illustrated Map of Chicago, Youthful City of the Big Shoulders, Restless, Ingenious, Wilful, Violent, Proud to be Alive! Charles Turzak; Henry T. Chapman. Boston: 1931
This map combines a birdseye view and a pictorial map of Chicago. It shows major rivers and other bodies of water, with drawings of landmarks, streets, railroads, parks, planes, ships and boats, and whimsical beings such as sea monsters. A table in the map’s lower margin lists the points of interest in Chicago.
The Country Bus-Services Map, Middlesex
The Country Bus-Services Map. Leslie MacDonald Gill. London: 1928
This is an artist's proof in black and white, without the colors added. The result is striking, showing the overall design very clearly. Gill was one of the most influential of the early 20th-century pictorial map makers, and made many pictorial maps of the transportation systems around London.
A Map and History of Peiping (Beijing). Explanatory Booklet. By Frank Dorn Peiping. Lithographed and Published by The Peiyang Press, Ltd. Tientsin-Peiping 1936.
A Map and History of Peiping (Beijing). Frank Dorn. Tientsin-Peiping: 1936
An elaborately illustrated map with vignettes of dozens of sights, animals, human activities, and historic scenes with labels. Col. Frank Dorn (1901–1981), later brigadier general, was an artist, writer and aide to Gen. Joseph Stilwell, the man who during World War II commanded the U.S. and Chinese Nationalist resistance to Japanese incursions into China and Burma.

Pictorial maps, a form of mapping that arose in the early 20th century, emphasized a decorative, illustrated style that departed from traditional cartography while still building on the nature of place. These maps were often humorous and thematic. They blurred the boundaries between maps and art and in so doing created a unique and highly varied style of mapping. Cities and their plans, transportation systems, and inhabitants were favorite subjects. Turzak’s map of Chicago at the back of the case is an exuberant paean to his hometown, and with its imagery promotes Chicago and the coming 1933 World’s Fair. MacDonald Gill made transportation maps for London agencies, and the creative design of his County Bus-Services Map on the left shows why he is considered one of the best pictorial map makers. Frank Dorn, whose map of “Peiping” is a fantastical mix of city plan and cultural commentary that make it a masterwork of the genre, was an American military officer and artist living in Beijing in the 1930s.