General Map of the Railways, Coach Lines, Navigation, Posts and Telegraphs of the Argentine Republic

Chromolithograph, mounted on linen. Apparently the first map of Argentina at a scale of 1:2,000,000. Folded: 23.7 x 17.5 cm; unfolded: 136 x 96 cm. Uncommon: only two copies are recorded in WorldCat, both in England; it is not listed in Rarebookhub. This map illustrates a period of prosperity and growth in Argentina that led to a massive expansion of public services and communication networks throughout the country. One of the principal drivers of this expansion was agriculture in the Pampas region: between 1890 and 1930, the cultivated area grew from approximately 2 million hectares to more than 25 million. With much of that production destined for foreign markets, this growth drove the rapid construction of new transport and communication infrastructure, all represented on this map. In the upper part of the large map there are four insets: one showing the southern part of the country (as far as Patagonia) and the other three representing the railway networks around Buenos Aires, Tucumán and Rosario, respectively. In the lower part, there is an alphabetical index of the “cities, towns and railway stations” of the country. This map was published by Pablo Ludwig, a notable but little-studied cartographer based in Buenos Aires. Probably of German origin, Ludwig gained renown working with Arthur von Seelstrang (Arturo Seelstrang), the Prussian scientist who explored the Chaco region for the Argentine government. When Seelstrang published his Atlas of the Argentine Geographic Institute (1885-1893), he chose Ludwig as engraver of the maps. After the completion of the atlas, Ludwig began to publish his own maps, beginning with a plan of Buenos Aires (1893). Around 1900, he began to publish maps under the name of Oficina Cartográfica Ludwig, a company active until at least 1959. This is the first edition of the map; a second, updated edition was published in 1908, notably adding the new San Luis – Bahía Blanca line.