1876 Le Monde Illustrated Pictorial View Map of the World 'in the Blink of an Eye'

A spectacular 1876 pictorial diorama presenting a 'tour of the world in the blink of an eye.' The map is projected as a view from space and details the world roughly from the Equator to the North Pole and from California to India. Flora, fauna, historic events, cultural artifacts, and indigenous people are represented pictorially. Additional inset views illustrate places and moments of special interest including mirages in the Pacific, a ship burning at sea, Niagara Falls, Chicago, oil wells, gold mining, Hindu cremation, Chinese Junks, Tuareg warriors, and an avalanche, to name but a few. The presentation is further surrounded by dramatic imagery which includes sketches of some 79 individuals in 'traditional costumes.' To either side of the main view are flags of major nations, sailing ships, volcanoes, and other imagery.

The map itself follows period convention, but a couple of elements are worth noting. These include an ice free polar sea north of Greenland labeled 'Mer Libre?' No doubt this is a nod to hopes that a Northwest Passage might still exist. Trans-Atlantic shipping lanes are noted. The achievements of various explorers are noted in both Africa and the Arctic. The Sargasso Sea is illustrated in the middle of the Atlantic.

This view was drawn by M. M. Scott and Daniel Vierge and Engraved by Fortune Meaulle for the January supplement to Le Monde Illustre, 1878.