Automobile Map of New England Showing the Ideal Tour

Travel with New York’s elite during the Roaring 20s!

This straightforward black and white road map covering much of New England was published in 1924 to accompany a booklet promoting ‘The Ideal Tour.’ Aimed at the upscale automobile tourist looking to escape the city, the image presents paved highways and recommended hotels at popular vacation destinations (boldly labeled). Distances between points are noted, which is useful since the geography has been somewhat distorted to best fit the content (note that no scale is present).

Photographs on the verso of the sheet present many highlights from the Ideal Tour. The accompanying booklet offers additional information (including a custom eight-day itinerary) and additional black & white images of various destinations and the region’s natural beauty. Small strip maps offer specific directions to many of the hotels and attractions described therein. Numerous advertisements are also included.

The map was created by Mixer’s Motor Maps and Tours for use in the Ideal Tour booklet, which was published by Almon C. Judd of Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1924. Judd was an avid motorist who, with a group of three other hoteliers, issued the first Ideal Tour brochure in 1908. It was apparently issued annually, though this 1924 was the first in which the publishers “take pleasure in presenting the latest form of the route book and map-maker’s art in the use of the strip map and route information.” – pg. 3. Printed by the Press of the Kalkhoff Company in New York.