Lithographed maps, hand-colored. Together, 62x39.5 cm (24½x15½") including decorative border.
Rare separately issued map with added advertisements, intended to take advantage of the public's interest in the hostilities in Italy which broke out in April of 1859 between Austria and the coalition of France and the northern Italian state of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The present map, on which the Colton firm combined two of their standard atlas maps, served as an advertising vehicle for the hardware firm John W. Quincy & Co., New York, with the company's logos on each map. Accompanied by a one-page article Warren Heckrotte wrote for The Map Collector in 1993, "War, maps and advertising: an early use of maps for sales promotion," in which he discusses the war, this map, its use in advertising, and its scarcity. "...it would seem unlikely that such large format maps on thin paper would have survived. The example I found, which is illustrated here, was found loosely inserted in a Colton atlas and is well preserved...." He concludes by stating that "Finally, it should be noted that the war ended in early July with Austria conceding defeat. Austria lost Lombardy and then Venice a few years later. This outcome of the war was decisive in the formation of the modern Italian state."
Provenance: Strand Book Shop, NY, 7/89
References: Heckrotte, TMC, #91, Spring '93, (R).