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Rare Pictorial Map of Taos, New Mexico.
An irreverent pictorial map of Taos, issued by the Taos Chamber of Commerce in the 1940s. The map shows the historic Taos Square and very many other historical points of interest. The Taos artist colony culture is represented with a number of painters at their easels, and various jokes are made at their expense regarding subjects they were too lazy to finish painting. Many other caricatures lampoon the tourists that the map was supposed to be attracting, with scenes showing tourists being lost or hunting without a license.
This is a great town map from the golden age of American pictorials. It is fully characteristic of the wit and style of that school of mapmaking. Many of the scenes and jokes are still relevant in Taos's thriving tourist industry today, and the map would not look out of place if reissued with modern photographs and an updated layout of the city.
Besides the map, this edition includes photographs of scenes from around Taos on both the front and the verso. These photos comprise a variety of subjects, from the forests around the town to the historic scenes of Taos. Each photo is accompanied by a small text advertising the greatness of Taos and how the reader would enjoy visiting it; the hand of the Taos Chamber of Commerce is never far from the creation of this work. The verso also includes a calendar of festivals around Taos as well as a small history of the town and its famous occupants.
The dating is taken from Rumsey (another edition).
