Java-China Japan Lyn. / Map Showing Routes Ports of Call and services of the java-China Japan Line.

1939 Stanford Map of East Asia: Java-China Japan Steamship Line

Publication Date: 1930

About this Item

Good to very good. Laid on original linen. Old varnish yielding a warm tone. Tear from top edge extending about 5 inches into the map, stabilized by older repair on verso. Creasing along edge and in margin, especially at top. Size 43.5 x 34 Inches. A dramatic large-scale c. 1939 Edward Stanford map promoting the Java-China Japan (JCJL) steamship line (??????????). It serves as a reminder of the interconnections throughout East Asia that persisted despite the geopolitical tensions in the 1930s. A Closer Look Coverage extends from Mongolia to Java and northern Australia and from Burma to New Guinea, embracing China, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, the East Indies, and the Philippines. Blue lines trace the routes of the JCJL through the Yellow, China, and Java Seas, while a darker line at the top indicates the Trans-Siberian and China Eastern Railways. A table of distances between major ports is provided at the bottom left. Five scales and a brief legend indicating rail and telegraph lines appear on the right. Java-China Japan Line The Java-China Japan Line was a Dutch shipping and passenger line in East and Southeast Asia founded in 1902 by Ernst Heldring (1871 - 1954). Heldring was also the founder of several other shipping companies serving the East Indies inter-island trade, including Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM), Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN) and Rotterdamsche Lloyd (RL). The firm maintained regular services, as illustrated here, between China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, the East Indies, and French Indochina, despite increasing tensions between Japan and other countries, especially China, which resulted in a full-scale war by 1937. Under various names, it remained operational until 1970, when it merged with several other firms to form Nedlloyd. Java Road in Hong Kong is named after the line, which had its headquarters there in the early 20th century. Publication History and Census This map was produced in London by Edward Stanford's Geographical Establishment - the premier mapmaker in early 20th-century London. It likely went through many iterations, of which we can find no clear breakdown. Based on the shipping routes, we estimate this map to have been issued in the 1930s. The presence of Manchukuo indicates a date of 1933 or later, while Sikang (Xikang) Province in China suggests a date in the very late 1930s. However, Beijing retains the name Peiping (Beiping), and no reference is made to the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945), which drastically upset these shipping routes, suggesting that the map was produced in the early stages of the conflict. An example is part of the David Rumsey Map Collection. We also note examples cataloged in OCLC as part of the collections at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Leiden University, and the University of Michigan, cataloged with various dates. References: Rumsey 10733.003. OCLC 67526940, 71570583, 238760864.

Seller Inventory # JavaChinaJapan-stanford-1930-3

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Java-China Japan Lyn. / Map Showing Routes Ports of Call and services of the java-China Japan Line.
• Publication Date: 1930
• Seller catalogs:
  • JAPAN-CHINA-KOREA