1958 Salomone 'Intellectual Property' Map of the World

A most unusual 1958 map of the world issued for presentation to attendees of the 1958 Lisbon Industrial Property Symposium - a meeting intended to review and set global trademark and patent protections. The map itself covers the entire world on a much-distorted Mercator Projection - such that only Europe is vaguely proportional. The cartographer has added decorative elements borrowed from the 16th century cartography of Ortelius (border, ships, title cartouche) and the 17th century work of the Blaeu firm (compass rose) - giving the whole an Old World aesthetic, despite modern cartography. (We find it ironic that for a map celebrating intellectual property protections, so much is copied from older maps.) The map, curiously, uses loose color coding to emphasize colonial empires - although the coding is by no means comprehensive. The British sphere of influence is red, the French green, and unaffiliated countries, yellow.

1958 Lisbon Industrial Property Convention

The 1958 Lisbon Conference is one of a series of meetings of world leaders in intellectual and industrial property law. All such meetings build upon the accords laid down at the 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of industrial Property. Meetings for successive revisions to the accords followed in 1900 (Brussels), Washington (1911), The Hague (1925), London (1934), and as here, Lisbon (1958). The Lisbon conferences involved some 250 - 300 experts from more than 46 countries - including the recipient of this map, Arthur G. Gilkes, and the publishers, the Milanese intellectual property firm of Barzanò and Zanardo - whose corporate cartouche appears in the lower left. The convention redefined international agreements on intellectual property in the light of new technologies and increased globalization.

Barzanò and Zanardo

Barzanò and Zanardo is a Milanese law firm specializing in intellectual property. The firm was founded in Milan in 1878 by Carlo Barzanò (1849 - 1915). Shortly after, in 1880, Giovanni Battista Zanardo opened an office in Rome. The two merged their businesses in 1906, forming Barzanò and Zanardo. Over the years, they became one of the leading intellectual property firms in Europe, filing patents and trademarks for some of the world's most iconic brands. The firm remains active today.

Arthur G. Gilkes

The map is dedicated to Arthur G. Gilkes (1915 - 1999) , an American patent attorney based in Chicago. He graduated from Princeton with a degree in chemistry before serving as an officer in the Naval Reserve. After his service, he took a degree at the New York University School of Law. He began working as a Standard Oil senior patent attorney in 1954, a position he maintained until his 1980 retirement. He attended the Lisbon conference as a representative of Standard Oil. On retirement he relocated to Northeast Harbor, Maine, where he died.

Publication History and Census

This map was published in 1957 for attendees of the 1958 Lisbon Industrial Property Convention. It was produced on behalf of the Italian intellectual property law firm, ' Barzanò and Zanardo'. The map was designed and printed in Rome by Stabilimento Arti Grafiche Luigi Salomone. It was conceived by one 'Humbertus Allionius' - we are not sure who this is, but it may be the person who signed the dedication in the lower right. It was engraved by Tiberius Nozius, another elusive figure. Likely both were employees of Salomone, but with the Latinization of their names, it is impossible to ascertain true identities. It is likely that roughly 300 examples of this map were produced, but this is the only known surviving example.