The “Daily Mail” Commercial Map of Africa. Second Edition.

London, George Philip &: Son Ltd, c. 1898. Lithographed folding map, 64 x 55.5 cm, printed in colours, scattered foxing, blank verso, folding into printed card wraps. The cover title adds: ‘showing the Cape-Cairo Railway: present and future railway systems, principal steamer routes, European possessions & treaty boundaries, forest regions, chief products, mining districts, etc.’ Insets on the map depict ‘Africa before the scramble’ and ‘England on same scale showing main railway lines’. Text at the foot of the map explores the progress of the proposed Cape to Cairo route and helps us date this edition of the map to 1898. The railway in Sudan was extended rapidly by the British to support Kitchener’s military operations against Mahdist forces. The Aswan to Wadi Halfa gap (show here as under construction) was never plugged, but the Abu-Hamed to Atbara section was completed in 1898. The Atbara to Khartoum section was built 1898-1900, after the Battle of Omdurman. The map also predates the second Anglo-Boer War. Worldcat locates three examples of the second edition: OCLC: 316609820 (NLS); OCLC: 1227088208 (Staatsbibliothek Berlin); OCLC: 431687494 (BNE Madrid). Map