This iconic early pictorial map of Silicon Valley brings to life the early days of the tech boom that has defined our modern world. It is the work of author and illustrator Maryanne Hoburg, who mapped the terrain by driving around in her Volkswagen, taking photographs of the rapidly developing area and collecting logos from the legions of freshly launched tech companies. Her map spans from Fremont south to Los Gatos, with San Francisco off in the distance. City Graphics sold advertising space on the map, and as a result the landscape is dominated by company logos, with a special emphasis on the tech sector. The map is loaded with familiar names (as well as companies who did not make it), among them IBM, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Oracle, Fairchild Semiconductor, and Atari.

First published in 1982, Hoburg updated the map the following year to account for the non-stop change in the Valley. This significantly updated edition modifies all of the logos and vignettes, locates several new businesses (UConix, Pyramid, Silicon Valley Tech News, and more), removes the faux dot matrix printer holes along the sides, and adds San Francisco at top left, indicated by the Golden Gate Bridge emerging from a fog. In addition to all of the tech and electronics businesses, the map shows colleges (such as Stanford University, San Jose State University, and Foothill College), the San Jose Municipal Airport, restaurants, wineries, Great America amusement park, the stadium for the San Jose Earthquakes, and Chuck E. Cheese's corporate headquarters. The map is peppered throughout with cartoon vignettes and silly visual jokes and puns: William Tell shoots an Apple computer off of some poor sucker's head; a woman holding a house says, "I've got my home computer;" a caveman represents the era of "B.C. Before Computers!"; a rabbit psychoanalyst tells his analysand, "I think you're suffering from acute cyberphobia." There is also some light commentary on the Valley's industry and culture. A suited figure notes, "Silicon Valley is where many fortunes have been made," and indeed there is literally venture capital money falling from the sky over Alviso. But we are also reminded that "Gary Dahl became a millionaire selling pet rocks" - perhaps a sly way to undercut the hype and posit that not all "innovations" are created equal. A businessman speeding by on roller skates states, "Everybody is in the fast lane," a comment on the region's competitiveness and hard-driving work ethic. Elsewhere, a kid cries out, "Let's get the Russians out of the Valley," a reflection of Cold War paranoia. And already "There is a housing shortage here," indicated by a man desperately grabbing onto a home. Published by City Graphics of America of Fremont, California. A prototypical pictorial map of Silicon Valley that captures the explosion of the tech sector in the early 80s.

The lot includes the original mailing tube, sent from Silicon Valley Tech News to an employee of Data Technology Corp. in Fremont.

References: cf. Rumsey #11492.

Condition: A

A very clean and colorful example with minor creasing along the edges, all confined to the black borders. The map has been stored rolled and does not presently lay flat on its own.