"Bobby Benson and the H-O Rangers in Africa",

This splashy pictorial map is a promotional product for the popular kids Western radio series Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders, which was broadcast on CBS from 1932-36 and Mutual from 1949-55. Bobby Benson's adventures typically unfolded on and around his Texas ranch, but apparently he occasionally ventured far afield to places like the depths of Africa. The maps centers on the Belgian Congo, although there is not much in the way of solid cartographic detail aside from a few identifiable lakes and villages. Whether or not they have any real world analogue, locales like Skull Mountain, Valley of the Diamonds, Valley of the Green Mamba, and Graveyard of the Elephants have the fun ring of children's adventure stories. The landscape is filled with playful illustrations of wildlife and stereotypical depictions of indigenous Africans. An inset shows the whole continent, with the area depicted in the main map highlighted in yellow. Bobby Benson himself appears in the title cartouche at top left, surrounded by a red bird and three monkeys. The monkey motif continues in the decorative border. Published by the Hecker H-O Company of Buffalo, the cereal company that developed the Bobby Benson program to market their products.

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Condition: B+

A bright, colorful example, issued folding, with wear along the fold lines and three fold separations that enter the map image, the longest of which measures 2.5" at bottom, and have been closed on verso with archival tape.