1934 Brown Chart of the World's Flags

This is Brown, Son and Ferguson's c. 1934 chart of the flags of all nations. A dramatic large format chart illustrating the flags of the world's maritime nations with a focus on the British Empire and its various extensions. The chart is divided into four primary sections. The upper section focuses on the British Empire, featuring flags from England, Scotland, Ireland, and various British military, commercial, government and postal carriers. Below this there are a series of flags and badges associated with colonies, dominions, protectorates, dependencies, and mandated states. These include India, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, the Falklands, the Unfederated Malay States, New Zealand, Canada, and more. In addition to proper flags, there are also a series of badges medallions that were added to the Union Jack to identify client states. Foreign flags and ensigns appear below. Among these are the flags of the United States, 'Koweit', Korea, Japan, Colombia, the Papal States, the Soviet Union, and more. Germany has four flags, all bearing the swastika, firmly dating this chart to the pre-war period of the German Third Reich, roughly 1933 to 1939.

Publication History and Census

This chart was published by Brown, Son, and Ferguson of Darnley Street Glasgow, Scotland. It was compiled and drawn by Ernest A. Manchester, a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. The map is undated, but variants of this chart exist from about 1910 to the 1950s. We are able to narrow the dating on this chart somewhat by the presence of the flag of the German Third Reich. The OCLC catalogs seven examples of this chart as part of the institutional collections at Brown University, the United States Naval Academy, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Library of Sweden.