Description
The map has a large decorative cartouche in the lower left, with the title of the map depicted on a pedestal on the beach, decorated with palm fronds, shells, flowers, a treasure chest and a flamingo. In 1951 when the map was made, the Bahamas were still under British control (prior to independence in 1973) so it includes the British “Flag of the Empire” in the cartouche and illustrations of British currency prominently beneath the inset map of Nassau. The cartouche also includes the flag and the badge of Bahamas of that period. Overall, the map is enclosed within a decorative border of red, black, and gold.
There are inset maps of New Providence Island, location of the most of the resorts and residents, and an inset street map of Nassau, the capital city, with 23 numbered locations corresponding to a key in the lower margin. The inset New Providence Island map includes major roads and landmarks, the locations of beaches, and illustrations of people enjoying recreational activities; it also has a small compass rose listing distances in miles from various cities. A small portion of the Florida coastline and the Gulf Stream are shown at left. They are not accurately located in terms of its real distance to the Bahamas as shown on the map but rather are included to convey the easy accessibility of the Bahamas to Miami and Palm Beach by the airplanes and cruise ships illustrated over the ocean.
George Annand was a prolific and highly successful illustrator and graphic artist, based in New York, whose career spanned five decades. Although he produced illustrations for books (including dust jackets) and magazines, he was particularly esteemed for his maps, which are praised by author Stephen Hornsby as “among the most refined and dignified examples of the genre…In many ways, George Annand was a cartographer’s cartographer.” Annand spent his early life in Michigan and attended art school in Detroit before moving to New York and studying at the Art Students League. His maps were frequently commissioned by advertisers and publishers to incorporate into publications, and sometimes as standalone promotional prints. He developed this decorative style to make the subject of geography more engaging than what he saw as the “lifeless” maps in schoolbooks. He received many major commissions during the 1930s: literary maps for books about Sinclair Lewis and the Oregon Trail, promotions for General Foods and the Waldorf Astoria, and maps of the Hudson River Valley and Washington, D.C., for Rand McNally’s popular historical “Romance” series. His separately issued maps include A Treasure Hunter’s Map of the West Indies and Spanish Main (1940) and The Islands of the Bahamas (1951). Annand also worked on two major book series producing numerous maps for 28 of the 65 volumes in The Rivers of America book series (1937-1955) and for historian Shelby Foote’s The Civil War: A Narrative, an ambitious project where Annand turned hundreds of Foote’s battlefield sketches into maps. Failing eyesight forced him to retire at age 80.
Condition: Generally very good, recently professionally cleaned and deacidified with only minor remaining toning and wear; few small staple holes in far corners restored.
Reference:
Hornsby, Stephen J. Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. pp. 34-38.
