Baloghné Terézia & Bálint János

Published 1928, Hungary

Size:35” X 30.5”

Condition: Good. Backed on archival tissue for stability.  Exhibits crackling and soiling.  Areas of infill in upper right corner.  Blank on verso.

A beautiful, very rare and intriguing thematic wall map depicting African fauna. The fauna, is classified in the table in the lower left quadrant into mammals, birds and reptiles.  This wall map, issued by the Magyar Királyi Állami Térképészet (Royal Hungarian State Cartography) is  possibly derived from maps originally published in Baloghné Terézia’s 1928 zoological atlas.  It is further assumed that wall maps of this nature were most likely produced for educational purposes.
As with many thematic maps, political boundaries and scale are not as important as to the underlying imagery used to convey information by cartographic means over a defines geographical area.  This beautiful and stunning wall map not only portrays the extant of the diversity of the fauna found on the African continent, but  the soft colour tones of the image of the rich vastness of continent is enhanced by the contrasting aqua blue of the surrounding oceans.
As such, this wall map, with its geographical emphasis, can also be considered a work of art.
To date, this map does not appear to be found in any institutional collection, and only one other similar map of the fauna of the Asian continent is known to exist. A rare find for any collectors of thematic cartography or of stunning wall maps in general.