Promotional coloured lithographic map by Edmund Dulac 1927

DULAC, Edmund. – Promotional lithographed map for Canadian Pacific Distinctive Cruises.
 
London: Canadian Pacific, 1927.
 
Coloured lithographic map, 400 × 200 mm, folded twice as issued; signed “Edmund Dulac del. 1927” in the lower right corner; some light foxing to edges, margins, and fold lines, more noticeable on the verso, otherwise well preserved.
 
Produced to advertise Canadian Pacific’s newly established “Distinctive Cruises” programme, this decorative map is the work of Edmund Dulac, better known for his work as a book illustrator. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company had expanded into steamship cruising in the late 1920s, opening offices in London’s Charing Cross to attract European passengers. To promote its flagship liner, Empress of Britain, the company enlisted prominent artists: Sir John Lavery designed the ballroom, Frank Brangwyn the dining saloon, and Dulac the smoking room. Dulac was also commissioned to create this promotional map, illustrating the three principal cruise itineraries – a world voyage, a West Indies–South America–South Africa circuit, and a Mediterranean tour.
 
The map is embellished with period galleons, sea monsters, scrolling cartouches, and exoticised figures, and was distributed as a free handout to prospective clients. It stands as both an example of interwar travel marketing and an instance of Dulac extending his practice beyond book illustration into commercial design. Scarce: a copy is held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; none recorded at auction and no examples currently traced in the trade.