Florida Map 1935 Pictorial Print - St. Augustine, Palm Beach, Key West

Ruth Taylor White drew this pictorial map of Florida for Our U.S.A., A Gay Geography, a whimsical cartoon atlas published by Little, Brown, and Company in 1935 with text by Frank J. Taylor, covering all 48 states in fifty-eight full-color illustrated sheets. This sheet appears on page 27 of the atlas, printed in bright lithographed color and filled with small hand-drawn scenes rather than any conventional survey detail, a style built to entertain a Depression-era audience as much as inform it. Florida is shown here through its natural landmarks and its citrus, fishing, and tourism industries, the identities that most defined the state's popular image in the 1930s. Ruth Taylor White and Frank Taylor built the atlas as a joint effort, her illustrations paired with his short, wry captions, and the finished sheets sold well enough during the Depression that Little, Brown kept the title in print for several years after its first release.

The Everglades, the state's beaches, and its orange groves are all illustrated as central natural landmarks. St. Augustine, the oldest city in the country, is marked specifically for its historical significance. Small scenes of golfing in Palm Beach and sailing near Key West dot the coastline, reflecting the tourism industry already drawing visitors south by this date. Citrus farming and commercial fishing round out the map's economic imagery. Together the Everglades, the historic city, and the coastal leisure scenes sketch a Florida balanced between natural wonder, old history, and a newly emerging tourist trade.

A Florida family with roots in St. Augustine or the citrus counties will recognize this map's take on the state immediately, and it makes a distinctive gift for anyone who prefers a whimsical, Depression-era view of Florida to a conventional antique survey. The store's other Florida editions include Cram's 1878 sheet with its dedicated Keys inset and Asher & Adams' 1883 printing, both standard survey-style cartography; this 1935 Little, Brown sheet is the only pictorial, cartoon-style map of the state the collection carries. It's printed unframed and available in a range of sizes to fit whatever wall it's headed for.