1859 Emrik and Binger Satarical Map of Europe

This extremely rare Dutch satirical map by Emrik and Binger illustrates the European situation in 1859 during the Franco-Austrian War. This is one of the earliest known maps to use cartoon imagery to express political satire. Unlike later satirical maps in the spirit of Fred Rose, where the map itself takes the form people and caricatures, here the power figures themselves loom large, standing on the map as if on a great continental game board.

Understanding the Allegory

The political powers of Europe are here represented by their monarchs, priests, and officials. French Emperor Napoleon III and Austrian Emperor Franz Josef, bayoneted rifles ready, engage one another astride the battleground of Northern Italy, then in the midst of the Second War of Italian Independence or Franco-Austrian War. A very youthful Otto von Bismark looks on with eager interest, weapons at the ready, restraining Napoleon III with his foot. In Russia, the Roman Catholic priest Juraj Križanić pushes the idea, symbolized by a great boulder, of Pan-Slavism, a cultural and social movement promoting the union of all Slavic peoples. The size of the figure suggests threat, and the boulder, a great rolling danger is poised to overtake Western Europe which, unawares, focuses on its own internal conflicts. The Ottomans on the other hand are very much aware of the potential risks of Slavic unification and look on fearfully. England, symbolized by a caricature of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, then Prime Minister, watches the conflicts in a curmudgeonly fashion, hands deep in his pockets, indicative of policies aimed at building British power through financial strength and avoiding war at all costs

Publication History and Census

This map was published by Emrik and Binger and engraved by J. J. van Brederode. It is extremely rare with Worldcat identifying only a single other example in the British Library at St. Pancras.