This item has been sold, but you can get on the Waitlist to be notified if another example becomes available, or purchase a digital scan.

1920 Cook City Map or Plan of the International Settlement in Shanghai, China

ForeignSettlementShanghai-cook-1920
$1,500.00
Cook's Plan of the Foreign Settlement of Shanghai. /  Information for Travellers Landing at Shanghai. - Main View
Processing...

1920 Cook City Map or Plan of the International Settlement in Shanghai, China

ForeignSettlementShanghai-cook-1920

Created by one of the most innovative tourism companies in history : Thomas Cook and Son.

Title


Cook's Plan of the Foreign Settlement of Shanghai. / Information for Travellers Landing at Shanghai.
  1920 (undated)     8.75 x 16.75 in (22.225 x 42.545 cm)     1 : 12000

Description


This is a c. 1920 Thomas Cook city plan or map of the International Settlement and part of the French Concession in Shanghai, China. This is one of the earliest Thomas Cook Shanghai Guides and illustrates the gradual development of the International Settlement and the Bund.
A Closer Look
The map depicts the city from Siccawei Road and the Bubbling Well Police Station to the Pudong (Pootung) District and from the railway station to the French Concession (French Settlement), the Chinese City, and the East Asiatic Company's wharf along the Huangpo (Whangpo) River. Roads throughout the Northern, Central, and Western Districts are labeled, also in the French Concession. Individual buildings are illustrated, including numerous consulates, the Shanghai Club, fire stations, schools, police stations, churches, and hotels. Wharves along both banks of the Huangpu are identified and indicate the significance of Shanghai to international trade. Shanghai's nascent tram system is also illustrated, with routes indicated by the red lines.
Shanghai International Settlement
The Shanghai International Settlement was created in 1863 when the British and American Shanghai enclaves merged. These concessions were granted to England and the United States as part of the Unequal Treaties that followed the Opium Wars. From about 1854, the settlements were governed by the Shanghai Municipal Council, a British-dominated board of government officials and merchants. The board issued restrictions limiting Chinese habitation on International Settlement territory and oversaw the construction of public services, including trams, a sewage system, highways, and port buildings. The International Settlement expanded several times in the late 19th and early 20th century. It became an enclave of peace and prosperity when the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1837, but this abruptly came to an end with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and subsequent 1941 invasion of the International Settlement. After the war, the International Settlement lands were returned to Chinese sovereignty.
Publication History and Census
This map was created by Thomas Cook and Son and published c. 1920 in their guidebook Information for Travelers Landing at Shanghai. The earliest known version dates to 1912. The present example contains updates to the businesses and construction throughout the International Settlement, but particularly along the Bund, which we referenced to arrive at the approximate date of 1920. All are exceedingly rare with the OCLC indicating only a single surviving example, part of the collection at the University of Chicago.

Cartographer


Thomas Cook and Son (1841 - 2002), originally known as Thomas Cook, was a celebrated and innovative British tourism company founded by Thomas Cook (November 22, 1808 - July 18, 1892). Established in 1841 when Thomas Cook organized his first excursion: a trip from Leicester to Loughborough by rail at the cost of one shilling per person to attend a temperance meeting. On the morning of Monday, July 5, 500 people boarded a special train for the twelve mile journey, the participants unknowingly taking part in the first trip organized by what would become an international tourism giant. Cook, a cabinet-maker and former Baptist preacher, believed that most Victorian-era social problems could be solved by people drinking less alcohol and being better educated, and it was this set of beliefs that drew Cook to the temperance movement. It would be another four years before Cook organized a tour that actually turned a profit, a tour taking customers from Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby to Liverpool. Thomas published his first guidebook in conjunction with this endeavor (the first of many), as he was not content to simply offer low priced train tickets. The first excursion outside England happened the following year, in 1846, when Thomas took 350 travelers to Scotland. In 1851, during the Great Exhibition in London, over 150,000 people from Yorkshire and the Midlands traveled to see the exhibition using his arrangements. The first Thomas Cook tour of continental Europe happened n 1855, for which he offered for the first time the complete holiday 'package', comprising travel, accommodations, and food. The firm also offered foreign exchange services for the first time during this trip. In the coming years Cook also helped establish Switzerland as a popular summer vacation destination. In 1864, Thomas Cook's son, John Mason Cook (1834 - 1899) joins the family business and participates in the opening of the first Thomas Cook shop in London on Fleet Street the following year. Thomas Cook personally escorts his first tour of Egypt and Palestine in 1869, and by doing so establishes a tour for which the firm would become famous. The firm's name officially changed from Thomas Cook to Thomas Cook and Son in 1871 and the following year Thomas Cook organizes the first round-the-world tour, which lasts for 222 days and covers over 29,000 miles. Thomas Cook is also one of the first tour companies to aid clients with the exchange of funds into foreign currency, and goes to far as to establish a Foreign Banking and Money Exchange Department in 1878. John Mason Cook officially takes over the family business in 1879, and in so doing starts the firm's transformation from a barely profitable venture into a successful global enterprise. In 1884, John Mason Cook is approached by the British Government to oversee a relief mission to General Gordon, whose forces were besieged in Khartoum. A massive force of 18,000 troops and all the necessary supplies was organized and transported by Cook, although the effort proved unsuccessful as Khartoum fell in January 1885 and Gordon was killed. Following the unsuccessful mission to relieve Gordon, John Mason Cook launched a new fleet of luxurious Nile steamers, allowing his wealthy clients to tour Egypt with ease, almost completely removed from all interaction with the locals. The firm was named the Official Passenger Agent for the first modern Olympic Games, which took place in Athens in 1896. Tragically, John Mason Cook died unexpectedly in 1899 and left the firm to his three sons: Frank, Ernest, and Thomas ('Bert'), who continue to grow the business, including becoming the first travel firm to offer tours view air. Thomas Cook and Sons organized the first personally-conducted air tour in 1927, taking a group of six people from New York to Chicago to witness the Dempsey-Tunney heavyweight boxing bout, with the package including flights, hotel accommodations, and ringside seats. Frank and Ernest (Bert died in 1914) sell the company to the Compagnie International des Wagons-List et des Grands Express Européens in 1928, which operates the firm until 1948, when it becomes state-owned under the British Transportation Holding Company. The firm remained under state control until 1972, when it was purchased by a consortium of Midland Bank, Trust House Forte and the Automobile Associations. Continuing the firm's reputation for innovation, the firm launched a system in 1981 that allowed other travel agents to access the Thomas Cook Holidays' reservation system, and in 1997 Thomas Cook became the first UK retail travel agency to offer customers to buy vacations, foreign currency, travelers checks, and guidebooks over the internet. The Thomas Cook firm ends its existence as an independent agency in 2002 when it is acquired by the German travel company Condor and Neckermann. More by this mapmaker...

Source


Thomas Cook and Son, 'Information for Travelers Landing at Shanghai', (London and Shanghai: Thomas Cook and Son) 1920.    

Condition


Very good. Even overall toning. Close margins. Closed tear extending one inch into printed area from right margin professionally repaired on verso. Accompanied by original brochure.

References


OCLC 33226869. University of Chicago, DS796.S257I52 1912.