Spain, Portugal & Andorra Map 1922 Italian Atlas Print - Madrid, Lisbon, Andorra la Vella, Barcelona, Gibraltar

Mario Baratta and Luigi Visintin made this Regione Iberica (Spagna e Portogallo) for the Grande atlante geografico of the Istituto Geografico De Agostini of Novara, the first great Italian atlas, published in 1922. The color lithograph measures 37 by 50 centimeters on a double sheet of 40 by 54, at a scale of 1:2,500,000, with a legend, lines of latitude and longitude and a bar scale in kilometers. It shows political boundaries, topography, cities, roads, bodies of water, drainage, coastlines and islands, with relief in hachures and color, and an inset map of the Strait of Gibraltar. The catalog lists Spain, Portugal and Andorra among its countries and the Rock of Gibraltar among its regions, so the sheet reaches beyond the two main kingdoms to the small principality in the Pyrenees. It shows the Iberian Peninsula in 1922.

In 1922 Alfonso XIII was king of Spain, a year before General Primo de Rivera seized power in 1923, and Portugal was a republic, having replaced its monarchy in 1910. The tiny principality of Andorra, with Andorra la Vella as its capital, sits in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, and its inclusion was a feature of this Italian edition. The inset of the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, shows the strategic gateway where Europe comes within sight of Africa, with the Rock held by Britain. The catalog says that Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona are marked as the principal political and cultural centers.

A collector of Italian atlas cartography, a traveler who has crossed the Pyrenees to Andorra, or a family with Iberian roots will find a distinctive gift here. TheMapVault's Pergamon sheet of 1964 is the Polish mid-century view of the same peninsula, whereas this De Agostini sheet of 1922 is the Italian color lithograph of the years between the wars, with Andorra and an inset of the Strait of Gibraltar. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print.