Stamps of America

A scarce pictorial map ‘Dedicated to Philatelists Everywhere’

This marvelous pictorial map of the United States celebrates the history of the country, the U.S. Postal Service, and the hobby of stamp collecting simultaneously and in eye-catching form. Dozens of collectible stamps are noted throughout the image, many of which are situated to correspond directly to the event, person, or place they are commemorating.

Annotations in the negative areas provide additional information on inverted designs, presidential stamps, and other information of interest to a philatelist. Other text blocks describe historical aspects of the postal service such as airmail and a list of postage firsts. Profiles of post office buildings are shown in major cities across every state and the tracks of the Pony Express can be traced between St. Joseph and Sacramento.

The map was designed, drawn, and published by the talented Ernest Dudley Chase near his home in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1947. A penciled signature can be seen in the lower left margin. According to the Winchester Public Library;

“Widely regarded for his drawings, greeting cards, and maps during his lifetime, Ernest Dudley Chase was born in Lowell, MA in 1878. He attended the Lowell Textile School and the Vesper George Art School of Boston. He then joined the Butterfield Printing Company in 1900 and the W. T. Sheehan printing firm in 1906. In 1908, he began his own greeting card company, Des Arts Publishers, which later became Ernest Dudley Chase Publishers.

In 1921, the Rust Craft company purchased Ernest Dudley Chase Publishers. Chase held the positions of vice president, advertising manager, and creative director with Rust Craft until his retirement in 1958. Chase also wrote a history of the greeting card industry entitled The Romance of Greeting Cards published in 1926 and a collection of his cards, maps, and travel diaries are held at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History. After a creative and illustrious career, Chase died in 1966 in Hyannis, MA.”

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