Scarce Polish edition of an earlier symbolic French propaganda map of Europe, privately printed in Warsaw by Vladislav Levinsky

Simonvoliceskaja Karta Evropy: Evropa v 1914g. Voina-Osvoboditel’nitsa 1914-15g.

[A Symbolic Map of Europe: Europe in 1914. Europe’s Liberation War 1914-15]

Printed colours. Wide margins. Traces of vertical & horizontal folds. Some light verso reinforcements of folds, including old separation at lower central fold.  An attractive example.

A scarce satirical map of Europe printed privately for Polish author, Vladislav Levinsky & published by Samuel Orgelbrand & Company, in what was, in 1915, Russian-occupied Warsaw. The map was approved for publication by the local military censors on 9^th April 1915. Very little is known of Levinsky, though his address is given on the map as: Ul. Monyushki 8, Warsaw. The publishers of the map, Jewish booksellers, Samuel Orgelbrand & Company, had been an established feature of the Warsaw literary landscape since the mid-19^th Century. Begun by Samuel [1810-1868], the business was continued by Samuel’s younger brother Marycy [1826-1904] & two sons Hipolit [1843-1920] & Mieczyslaw [1847-1903]. It was finally sold shortly after the War, in 1920.

The map is closely modelled on an earlier French map designed by French artist, B Creté, and published in Paris by “Editions GD”, probably in early 1915. The original French edition is signed and dated “9mbre 1914” by the artist. Some issues of the Levinsky map also bear the artist Creté’s signature. Indeed several different variants and states of the Levinsky map are known, most notably showing the position before (as here), and after, Italy’s entry into the War in May 1915.

This seemingly first issue of the Polish map is virtually identical to its French precursor, excepting the slightly more benign and serene features & more open stance of the Russian Tsar, whose giant figure fills the Russian homeland. The allegorical figure of Mother Russia, flag in hand, stands at his side, the massed armies of the country behind them as a new dawn rises in the East. In this issue of the map, Italy is depicted as a quiet mandolin-playing musician. In the later state, after Italy’s entry into the war, he is a bandoliered soldier, machine gun now pointing threateningly north eastwards into the heart of the Austrian Empire.