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1937 Alonzo C. Webb map of the British Empire - original manuscript
BritishEmpire-webb-1937$1,500.00
Title
The Commonwealth of Nations or, The British Empire.
1937 (undated) 15.5 x 22 in (39.37 x 55.88 cm)
1937 (undated) 15.5 x 22 in (39.37 x 55.88 cm)
Description
This is the original manuscript draft of a stunning 1937 pictorial map of the world highlighting the British Empire. The map was drawn by Alonzo C. Webb to celebrate King George VI's May, 1937 coronation and subsequently published in a special color section of the Christian Science Monitor. It depicts the whole world on a Mercator Projection, with British territories, or the Commonwealth, highlighted in red. The whole is surrounded by elaborately giggled heraldic designs. Quotes from Milton and Emerson lionizing British achievement. While less vividly colored than the printed version, lacking strong blue inks there present, this manuscript draft is otherwise near identical.
Coronation of George VI
The coronation of George VI and his wife Elizabeth as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 12 May 1937. George VI ascended the throne upon the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, on December 11, 1936, three days before his 41st birthday. The event was designed not only as a formal crowning, but also as a public display the breadth and power of the British Empire.Publication History and Census
This is a manuscript draft on artist board. Curiously, the design at top is cut out for a three-dimensional effect. The map was subsequently published by the Christian Science Monitor, April 22, 1937, also with full gilt colorwork - as here. We are aware of only one edition. The present manuscript draft is unique.Cartographer
Alonzo C. Webb (April 1, 1888 - 1974) was an American engraver, architect, painter and illustrator. Web was born in Nashville Tennessee. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago from 1907 to 1909, then enrolled in the Stout Institute of Wisconsin in 1911 to study building and construction for one year, before attaining an architecture degree at the University of Illinois (1912 - 1913). During World War I he served with American Engineering Forces in France, falling in love with that country. After the war he studied art at the A.E.F. Art Training Center in Bellevue, France, a school set up for American soldiers. Determined to stay in Paris, he give up his architectural career, which he could not practice in France, to make ends meet doing various odd illustration jobs and making sings in English for millinery shops on Rue de Rivoli. His work gradually became more popular and frequently appeared in the French weekly periodical, L'Illustration. In the 1920s and 30s he worked multinationally, producing art and architectural illustrations for American, French, and Italian interests. Webb moved to London in the 1930, remaining there until his death in 1974. More by this mapmaker...
Condition
Very good, On artist board. Shipped flat.
References
Rumsey 11762.001 (printed edition).