Catalog Archive
Auction 187, Lot 144

NO RESERVE

"Wet and Dry Map of the United States, January 1, 1914",

Subject: United States

Period: 1914 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
8.9 x 6.8 inches
22.6 x 17.3 cm
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This rare and interesting piece of persuasive cartography shows the temperance movement's progress in drying out America as of January 1, 1914. Dry areas are depicted in white, while the wet areas are shaded black. (New Jersey is the only state that is completely blacked out.) "See how rapidly the white space is growing and the black specks, where the people are cursed with saloons, are disappearing," begins the text beneath the map. The text goes on to predict that "by the effort of the Christian and moral forces of America, the entire map will be made white." Various editions of this map were published in the lead-up to a week-long campaign for National Constitutional Prohibition; this reduced version appears to have been published in a Massachusetts-based publication focused on temperance.

References:

Condition: A

Trimmed close to the border at left with a few tiny edge tears in the right blank margin.

Estimate: $200 - $250

Sold for: $55

Closed on 4/27/2022

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