c.1953 New York’s Wonder Map Nils Hansell Pictorial Cartoon Map New York City

Date: c.1953
Artist: Hansell, Nils
Size (inches): 33” x 25”
Size (cm): 83.8 x 63.5
Condition: B+
Linen backed: No

This vintage original pictorial cartoon map of New York City by Nils Hansell is one of the most desirable and sought after American Mid-century pictorial maps and was even used as the cover image for Stephen Hornsby's book Picturing America: the Golden Age of Pictorial Maps. This is a folded map in printed cardstock covers titled New York’s Wonder Map By Nils Hansell with a $1 price printed in the lower right corner.

Hansell, who had a long career as an art director with IBM, no doubt drew inspiration from Charles Vernon Farrow’s 1926 A Map of the Wondrous Isle of Manhattan. The elaborate design features over 300 points of interest identified by number with a key for each printed in the map’s inner boarder. The outer boarder features a decorative frieze design showing cartoonish denizens of New York City engaged in a wide variety of activities from hanging on subway straps to shopping to working construction and even the artist himself working at his easel in the lower right corner. Various neighborhoods are identified including The Village, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, Lower East Side and a diagram of Manhattan’s subway system appears in the East River.

The lower margin shows a copyright by Nils Hansell of North Stonington, Connecticut and indicates “Lithographed In U.S.A. By Lutz & Sheinkman”. This vintage original map shows light handling wear and modest toning from age. The original owner made a brief pencil notation on the map’s subway diagram. The covers show moderate handling wear and are a bit more toned than the map itself. Overall condition is very good for this vintage original.