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Highways of Empire

Poster
1927 (issued)
Artist/Maker
Empire Marketing Board (issuer)
Macdonald Gill (artist)
Place of origin
Great Britain (issued)

'Highways of Empire'. Colour lithograph poster showing a half circle Mercator projection of a map of the world, with The British Empire in its traditional pink. The rest of the world is in yellow, Antarctica in white, and the seas in grey. All the main sea and air routes of the time are shown with their mileages, some with representations of ships and a single biplane at the top. Around the top of the globe are the sun, moon and stars, with roundel figures representing blowing winds each with an inscription - 'Zephyrus, Boreas, Corus, Aquillo, Eurus, Auster' around the outside. Five columns of text below the image. Signed and dated '1927'.

Object details

Categories
Prints
Propaganda
Posters
Maps
Object type
Poster
TitleHighways of Empire (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph
Lithography
Brief description
'Highways of Empire'. Colour lithograph poster showing a half circle Mercator projection of a map of the world. Designed by (Leslie) Macdonald Gill. Issued by the Empire Marketing Board. Great Britain. 1927.
Physical description
'Highways of Empire'. Colour lithograph poster showing a half circle Mercator projection of a map of the world, with The British Empire in its traditional pink. The rest of the world is in yellow, Antarctica in white, and the seas in grey. All the main sea and air routes of the time are shown with their mileages, some with representations of ships and a single biplane at the top. Around the top of the globe are the sun, moon and stars, with roundel figures representing blowing winds each with an inscription - 'Zephyrus, Boreas, Corus, Aquillo, Eurus, Auster' around the outside. Five columns of text below the image. Signed and dated '1927'.
Dimensions
  • Height: 76.9cm
  • Width: 152.4cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1968. London: HMSO, 1969.
Credit line
Given by Mrs.Winifred Gillespie
Subjects depicted
British Empire
Travel
Highways
Empires
Map
World
Roundels
Stars
Moon
Suns
Airplane
Ships
Mercator Projection
Zephyrus
Boreas
Corus
Aquilo
Eurus
Auster
Associated object
E.28-1928 (Duplicate)
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1968 London: HMSO, 1969.
  • Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.80-1968

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O693249/highways-of-empire-poster-macdonald-gill/
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