1846 Lowenberg Whimsical Map of Italy

A delightfully whimsical 1846 map of Italy, from a German kinderatlas or children's atlas. The map covers pre-Garibaldi Italy split into numerous small duchies and city states from Venetian Lombardy south to Sicily with divisions illustrated via color coding. The map also includes the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. The whole is surrounded by a wide border featuring charming vignettes meant to illustrate the peoples and cultures of the region. These include a woman dancing, another praying with a rosary, illustrations of two buildings in the bottom left and right corners, and portraits of two men, one on each side of the map. The map is accompanied by its adjacent page, which includes a poetic history of Italy in German gothic type. The wonderful and rare map was drawn by Anst. V A. Boeden of Berlin for inclusion as plate no. XV in the 1846 issue of Julius Loewenberg's Geographische Landerfibel.