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Chromolithograph, 19.3" x 28" plus margins, with four columns of text printed below the map. CONDITION: Very good, light wear to margins. A rare "serio-comic" map of Europe in 1914 with warring nations represented as dogs and other countries represented as caricatured soldiers displaying their attitudes toward the war. Issued shortly after the French and British forces stopped Germany s advance at the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, this map represents the war s principal protagonists as the "Dogs of War": the British bulldog, the French poodle wearing a Phrygian Cap, and the German dachshund wearing a pickelhaube and chained to its ally Austria-Hungary, a yapping mongrel. The British bulldog bites the German dachshund on the nose, drawing blood. Russia is represented by a bear, and presiding over Eastern Europe is a large steamroller driven by Russia s Tsar Nicholas, who heads towards Europe s center threatening to flatten everything in its path. Hovering above Britain at upper-left is a giant sailor holding dog leashes attached to British battleships that steam toward the continent. Other figures include a Spanish bullfighter, a smiling Dutchman smoking a cigar, a knife-wielding Greek, an Italian carabiniere holding a pistol, Balkan wasps, and a Turkish soldier with his pet Dachshund controlling a fleet of battleships in the Black Sea. The map captures English optimism early in the war; it was believed that British naval superiority would end the war quickly. The map extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Black Sea in the east, and from Scandinavia in the north to Italy in the south. The text at the bottom by the Jewish satirist Walter Emanuel (1869 1915) provides commentary on the political situation in Europe during the early stages of the war, and describes the combatant nations as types of dog elucidating the map s message. Emanuel s text begins: "The Dogs of War are loose in Europe, and a nice noise they are making!" Some have speculated that the map was made for children and distributed in schools, a notion that seems to be supported by a sentence near the end of the text, reading "Search well and you may find many things." Born in New York, George Washington Bacon (1830 1922) was a mapmaker and publisher. In 1861, Bacon moved to London and established a series of businesses, but in 1867 went bankrupt. In 1870, he founded the publishing firm G. W. Bacon & Co. In 1893, Bacon purchased the map business of James Wyld. Around 1900, G. W. Bacon & Co. was purchased by and incorporated into the Scottish publishing house of W. & A. K. Johnston. Maps using the Bacon imprint were produced as late as 1956. Around 1967 W. & A. K. Johnston s name was changed to Johnston & Bacon. Based in London, Johnson, Riddle & Company Ltd. was a printing company founded in 1910. During World War I, the Parliamentary Recruitment Committee contracted with the firm to print recruitment posters. The company operated until 1974. This map was also issued in pocket map form, dissected and mounted on linen, with covers featuring the title, "Serio-comique map of Europe at war." A German version of the map was published in 1914 under the title, Horch! Horch! Die Hunde Bellen!: Mit Einer Begleitschrift Von Walter Emanuel (Hamburg, Germany: G. Nölting; E. Zimmermann, 1914). A vivid and many-layered satirical map of Europe during World War I. REFERENCES: "Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark!" at British Library online; Bryers, Tim, and Tom Harper. A History of the 20th Century in 100 Maps (London: The British Library, 2014), pp. 46 47.
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