1941 Wise and Peary Flat Globe Map of the World

This is a 1941 William H. Wise and Company and Admiral Robert E. Peary round double-sided globe map of the world as of December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Each side depicts one of the Earth's hemispheres, with the nations of the world labeled and delineated by black dotted and dashed lines. Red overprinting highlights air routes between the world's major cities. Clock faces along the Equator mark time zones, an essential detail in the age of air travel and world war. An inscription, 'All Data as of Dec. 8, 1941', suggests this map is updated to that point. There are overprinted US, British, and Japanese flags highlighting the global naval and air bases of these world powers. Oil fields, copper, rubber, and tin (essential raw materials for the war effort) are also noted by red overprinting. Interestingly, world geography does not reflect territorial gains won by Nazi Germany in Europe, or the fighting in North Africa, but Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet-state in northeastern China, is illustrated and labeled. Korea is labeled as Chosen, the name used by the Japanese following their annexation of the region in 1910.

Publication History and Census

This map was published in 1941 by William H. Wise and Company. The first edition, published in 1919 by the World Flat-Globe Corporation, was edited by Admiral Robert E. Peary, the celebrated engineer and Arctic adventurer. Subsequent editions were published in 1928 and 1931 by William H. Wise and Company, which were followed by the present 1941 edition. It is likely that the present edition was published due to American interest in global affairs following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Publication History and Census Continued

We note eight examples cataloged in OCLC which are part of the collections at Princeton University, the Boston Athenaeum, the Library of Congress, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, the Cleveland Public Library, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Alberta, and the University of California-Berkeley.