“The greatest Wonder of the World is the earth itself, a mere speck of matter in the immensity of space, yet here indeed are boundless oceans, vast continents, majestic mountain ranges, multifarious flora and fauna, superb manifestations of Nature, a wealth of minerals, and all over the glorious canopy of the sky.” – Text, lower right. This marvelous prewar pictorial map depicts the characteristic style of the talented Ernest Dudley Chase. An incredible assortment of captioned vignettes and carefully illustrated geographic details provides an engaging snapshot of global history (from a Western perspective). Apart from the World Wonders teased in the title, the composition includes a variety of technological advancements, architectural marvels, natural landmarks, and important industries. The magnificence of Niagara Falls, the destruction of the Hindenburg, and the Panama Canal all share the same visual space. The map was originally designed and copyrighted by Ernest Dudley Chase in 1939. As an entrepreneurial commercial cartographer, Chase licensed his work for a variety of uses, including puzzles, postcards, and other novelties. This unattributed reproduction, possibly from the 1970s or 1980s, leaves the original date blank in the lower left, but otherwise does not represent itself as a later reprinting.
