1960 McCormick / Hoen World Spice Map, w/ Routes of Explorers

Search for Tastier Food.

This is a 1960 promotional map of the world, printed by A. Hoen for the spice company McCormick (McCormick-Schilling). Colorful and informative, the map consciously invokes the history of the spice trade and its connection with early modern European cartography.

A Closer Look

The map covers the world on a double-hemisphere projection. A wealth of information is offered, ranging from the locations where various spices in the McCormick portfolio are sourced to the routes of important explorers and purely decorative elements. Surrounding the map are illustrations of spice harvesting, patriotic imagery (including Fort McHenry, alluding to the company's Baltimore roots), and promotional depictions of McCormick-Schilling offices. The map is further surrounded by flag illustrations from various spice-producing countries around the world and by portraits of great overland and seafaring explorers. The inclusion of anthropomorphic wind heads, a zodiac chart, and mythical sea creatures harken, like the double-hemisphere projection, to the world maps of the early modern period, which were often motivated by the search for better routes to the Spice Islands. The verso includes an 'Encyclopedia of flavoring extracts - spices - teas - coffees,' drawings of McCormick products, and colorful illustrations of trading ships.

Publication History and Census

This map was printed by A. Hoen for McCormick in 1960. McCormick issued numerous 'spice maps' of the world in various sizes and formats from the 1920s to the early 1970s, this being the largest and most decorative. This particular iteration of the world spice map was published from 1955 onwards with minor adjustments to each subsequent edition. The present edition is noted in the OCLC among the holdings of the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Michigan.

Cartographer

August Hoen and Company (fl. c. 1840 - 1981) was a Baltimore based engraving and lithography firm active in the middle part of the 19th century. A. Hoen and Co. was originally founded by Edward Weber under the name 'E. Weber and Company.' Weber died in the early 1850s and his company was taken over by German immigrant August Hoen (18?? - 1886) and his brothers, Henry and Ernest Hoen. As general interest lithographers, the Hoen firm's corpus includes posters, cigar boxes, sheet music covers, and posters as well as maps. They are best known for their pioneering multi-color lithographic techniques. After the death of August Hoen, the business passed on to his son, Albert Hoen. Another son, Earnest A. Hoen, moved to Richmond, Virginia and opened a branch of the firm there where he was granted a charter to produce Civil War era Confederate Currency. Their contributions to the cartographic field are generally in association with engraving and printing work done for Jacob Monk and the U.S. Geological Survey. The Hoen family maintained an active interest in the firm for the next 100 years or so until it finally filed for bankruptcy in 1981.   Further Details...

Condition

Average. Wear on old fold lines with minor fill and spit repairs at some fold intersections. Stable.

References

Rumsey 8849.003. OCLC 5449991.