Cram’s Universal Atlas

The geography of the known world (and universe!) condensed into less than 700 pages.

This atlas is described on the title page as “Geographical, Astronomical, and Historical containing a complete series of maps of modern geography, exhibiting the world and its various political divisions as they are today. Also, an elaborate series of authentic historical maps showing the world’s progress and development from the earliest times to the present, to which is added a brief history of astronomy and a description of the geography of the heavens.”

The contents certainly follow through on the promise, with dozens of color-printed maps and charts offering a detailed overview of the political and physical landscape of nearly every corner of the globe. These are accompanied by extensive tables of statistics, historical summaries, indices of place names, and other helpful references.

This incredible repository of information about the world at the dawn of the 20th century was published by George F. Cram in 1900, when the firm had offices in both Chicago and New York. America was celebrating its new empire (acquired courtesy of Spain), Europe was in the Belle Epoque, Asia was beginning to resist Western Imperialism, and Africa was almost entirely subjugated.