This unique wall map spoofing prohibition was created by Edward McCandlish and first published in the Washington Post in 1926. McCandlish was a prominent illustrator for the children's page in many newspapers in the 1920s and 1930s, making this parody a radical departure. The Bootleggers' Map was a hit early on, and the Griswold Press (Detroit) issued a second version in the late 1920s. The map continued a successful run after Prohibition ended and was syndicated to several other publishers. Roderick Barron of Barron Maps wrote an excellent article describing the map's publication history here.

The map itself is filled with illustrations and puns, as nothing is sacred in this hilarious look at alcohol and prohibition. Many place names are plays on words, like Chi-keg-o, Albu-Corky, Fill-More, Booze (Boise), and many more (some so bad they hurt) - The pints of the compass are Norse, Wets, Yeast, and Souse. A wonderful piece of Americana that beautifully captures the humor and mood of the time.

References: Hornsby (Picturing America) pp. 59 & 72.

Condition: A

A sharp impression on a bright sheet, now professionally backed in linen to repair some short separations along the old fold lines. There is some minor cockling of the paper, resulting in a few faint, grayish shadows at far right that are caused by our scanner, and do not appear on the map itself.