Our Household Maps! To be given with The Cincinnati Weekly Times

Ephemeral promotion for a Midwestern map publisher.

“At great expense the publishers of the Weekly Times have contracted for the publication of a series of useful and beautiful Maps, of the benefit of their patrons. One or the other of these Maps should hang in every dwelling, office, and shop in the land. It is needed for reference daily, by persons in business, and it is the very best educator that can be placed in a family of children.” – Text, top.

This uncommon broadsheet was issued by the Cincinnati Weekly Times in the late 19th century to promote a series of maps available exclusively to newspaper subscribers. Custom maps of Ohio, the Northwest, and the United States are described in detail, along with their respective rates.

The innovative marketing strategy is reflective of contemporary interests in geography across age and social status, as well as the commercial cartographic practices of the era. Note the line, “Lady agents have proved themselves very successful in this business, making better wages than they can at almost anything else.”