Key West, Florida

Broadsheet, 12.5" x 17.75", recto color-printed map, 11.75" x 16.25" plus margins, verso color-printed map, 9" x 15", both maps printed in blue and black. CONDITION: Good, old vertical folds, some foxing to edges of printed area and margins. A scarce Florida Keys promotional broadsheet featuring two maps and identifying over thirty points of interest in Key West and the broader Keys, as well as reflecting the naval buildup in Key West following World War II. The recto map shows Key West situated between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, whose waters are populated with illustrations of fish and vessels. A portion of Stock Island is depicted to the east, which is connected to Key West via the Overseas Highway (first constructed in 1912). The map includes such details as a U.S. naval base and station, lighthouse, cemetery (including a "Maine plot" for fallen Spanish-American War soldiers), churches, a Cuban club, Meacham Field Airport ("flights to Havana"), schools, an art gallery, a park, municipal buildings, beaches, and a Naval hospital. Appearing below the title is a concise history of Key West from its discovery by "a Spanish explorer" (Ponce de Leon) to 1943. The island reflects the enlargement of the U.S. Naval presence, which was spurred by World War II. In the lower-right corner is a list of ten attractions (identified on the map by blue circled numbers), including the city aquarium, Maine memorial (for the sunken vessel in the Havana Harbor), Turtle Crawls, the West Martello Tower art gallery, and the southernmost point in the nation ("you cannot travel any farther south, by land, in the United States"). The verso map depicts the broader 120-mile-long Florida Keys, extending from Key West to Barnes Sound (in Key Largo) and connected via the Overseas Highway. Twenty-one points of interest are identified throughout the Florida Keys: various islands, Jewfish Creek, keys (including Tea Table Key, the site of an "Indian" uprising in 1840 in which the noted botanist Dr. Henry Perrine was killed), towns such as Rock Harbor ("a thriving little settlement of prosperous lime growers and fishermen"), bridges (including Seven Mile Bridge), and more. OCLC records only two copies, at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay Historical Center. These were issued, respectively, by Hargis Standard Service Station and El Prado Hotel, both of which were located in Key West. An appealing mid-twentieth century tourist map of Key West.…