1945 World map designed by British-born Quaker, Oliver K Whiting [1899-1978] & published by Ernest Dudley Chase

Peace Map of the World United / A Pictorial History of Transport and Communications from Jonah to the Jet Plane as Paths to Permanent Peace / Originated, Designed, Copyrighted and Distributed by / Oliver K Whiting of London / 10 East 23rd St New York City / 273 Regent Street, London, Eng / Drawn and Published by / Ernest Dudley Chase / Winchester / Massachusetts  USA.

Sheet: 91.5 x 39.2 cms. Printed colour. Central vertical fold.  Wide margins. Original signature of Ernest Dudley Chase added in pencil in lower left border, adjacent to Whiting’s printed name. In all a fine clean and crisp example.

Striking large-scale Mercator projection World map published at the time of the first full Assembly of the United Nations, following the ratification of its founding Charter, which took place in San Francisco in October 1945.

It was second of two slightly different editions & versions of the map, the previous Mercator Map of the World United having been published exactly a year earlier at the conclusion of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference when representatives of the Four Great Allied Powers, Russia, China, Great Britain and the United States had first come together for discussions which had put forward proposals for the establishment of a post-war United Nations organisation.

This Peace Map of the World United has been updated by Whiting to show the geopolitical and military developments of the final twelve months of the Second World War, with the conclusion of hostilities in Europe in May 1945 and in the Far East in August 1945, the latter following the dropping of the two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Originally conceived designed and distributed by British-born Quaker businessman and Peace campaigner, Oliver Kenneth Whiting [1899-1978] in collaboration with the American pictorial mapmaker and publisher, Ernest Dudley Chase [1878-1966].

It was one of a series of similar large scale Mercator-projection World maps that Chase published between 1942 and 1950 which witness the seismic geopolitical changes around the globe through this eight year period as the World transitioned from a period of total global War through the optimism of Peace (depicted here) to a new Cold War and the reality of renewed international conflict on the Korean peninsula, as shown in Chase’s 1950 Freedom Map.

The map is a pictorial exposition of Whiting’s deeply-held Quaker beliefs as well as his own very personal manifesto and blueprint for World Peace. It is also a map redolent with post-war optimism and with its vibrant colour palette and numerous illustrations and pictorial vignettes, highlights the possibilities offered by faster international transport and communications and the way in which these act as vectors and vehicles for bringing the different nations, peoples and communities of the World much closer together. And with continued scientific progress, to increase greater mutual support and understanding around the globe and smooth the pathways to an enduring postwar Peace.

Examples of both the Mercator Map of the World United and the Peace Map of the World United are relatively uncommon. The Norman Leventhal Collection at the Boston Public Library holds examples of both. The David Rumsey Collection appears to hold only an example of the former.

To read more about Oliver Kenneth Whiting and the fascinating personal back story behind the creation & design of this map, see our October 2021 blog post