1955 Inbeborg Gessner Pictorial Map of the World Cacao Trade -in Manuscript!

This is an utterly stunning c. 1955 unpublished manuscript pictorial map of the world illustrating the history of the cacao trade. The map was drawn by the female graphic designer Ingeborg Gessner (Inge Klatte) for the Stuttgart chocolate company, Eszet (1857 - 1974). It illustrates the world on a loose Mercator projection stylized to conform to German mid-century aesthetics. The map is rich with vignette images illustrating different phases in the history of cacao and phases of cacao harvesting and production. Color coding distinguishes sources of Cacao in South America, Africa, and Australasia. Vignette images along the bottom border trace the development of the cacao trade from its first Europeans exposure when Hernan Cortez arrived at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, to its introduction to the Spanish court, and indigenous use. Copious annotation in German expounds on cacao throughout.

Unrealized Plans

A manuscript note on the verso reveals Eszet's plans for the image. It was to be issued on both a smaller scale for general distribution and in a gigantic 2 meter (6ft 5in) width, for formal presentation in offices, shops, factories, and boardrooms. There is alas no evidence that this spectacular map ever made it to the print phase. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most remarkable and striking examples of pictorial cartography we have ever come across.