Exceedingly scarce separately issued Russian comic broadsheet map, satirizing the European War situation in September 1914

Karta Voennikh Deistvii 1914g. [Map of Hostilities 1914]

Printed colours. Lower right corner in blank margin reinstated where small section previously missing/torn away. Short invisibly closed tear at upper sheet edge. Overall fine clean condition.

An exceptionally rare Russian satirical map in broadsheet format published and distributed by the Moscow satirical journal, Novoe Krivoe Zerkalo (New Distorting Mirror),in late 1914. Its address is given as Christie Prudy, Mashkov. Per. 1, Kv 11.

The magazine’s title seemingly refers to the hall of mirrors still found in modern circuses and fun shows, in which an individual’s reflection is made smaller, taller, fatter or thinner according to the particular shape & distortions of the various mirror glasses. The implication being that perhaps, through the power of this transforming medium, a vision of a completely new (& “alternative”) reality might be brought more sharply into focus.

In the map itself, a giant Russian soldier shouts down the Baltic Straits as two smaller comrades advance westwards, with fixed bayonet and pointed lance, towards their Austrian & German enemies. Neutrals sit on their hands (Romania & Bulgaria) or stand, heads bowed, arms at their sides (Italy). Portugal & Holland turn their backs entirely, whilst Spain & the Scandinavian countries look on from the peripheries of the map. In Britain, a jaunty naval rating stands in Scotland, back to the North Sea, gazing across to a straight-jacketed Ireland. To the south, a tartan-clad British soldier extends a clenched fist across the Channel, as a pickelhaubed German strides towards a startled French cavalryman & a diminutive Belgian. In Turkey, the “Sick Man of Europe” is held in supportive embrace by his new German brother-in-arms.