"The United States of America", White, Ruth Taylor

This playful map served as the frontispiece to White's Our U.S.A. - A Gay Geography. It covers the continental United States and features a number of stereotypical (and sometimes unfortunate) illustrations including a cowboy in Texas, gold miner in California, farmers in the Great Plains, and a cotton picker in Alabama. It is further decorated by classical elements including sea monsters and ships in the oceans, a strapwork title cartouche, and compass rose.

Ruth Taylor White's charming pictorial maps are among the most popular collectible maps of the early 20th century. Shortly after the publication of the first edition of Our U.S.A. - A Gay Geography in 1935, the New York Times reviewed it as follows: "Any one who remembers his childhood efforts to visualize Kentucky as something more than the green spot on the map, or New York as the pink State, will appreciate this volume. Brilliantly colored pictorial maps of the same order which have been amusing adults for the past decade show the United States and their Territories as active, picturesque entities" (November 17th, 1935).

References: Rumsey #7823.

Condition: A

Clean and colorful with a hint of toning.