Carta sincronologica de historia universal Mexico 1882 / Sebastian Adams’ vers'n

Description

Carta sincronologica de historia universal Mexico 1882
Mammoth Spanish-language version of Sebastian Adams’ Synchronological Chart
CARTA SINCRONOLOGICA DE HISTORIA UNIVERSAL FORMADA POR FRANCISCO J. ZAVALA SEGUN EL SISTEMA DE LA PUBLICADA EN INGLES, POR ADAMS. Guadalajara: Dionisio Meade, 1882. Francisco J. Zavala (after Sebastian Adams)
Chromolithograph on 13 sheets joined, ca. 28”h x 260”w. Backed with linen. Adams’ first published his Chart in 1871. It met with much success, being republished in numerous editions in the United States and abroad, including this extremely rare and little-known Guadalajara, Mexico version of 1882.
As with Adams’ prototype, the main chart, occupying roughly the lower two thirds of the image, employs interlocking streams as an extended metaphor for the interactions of kingdoms and peoples over time. A fork in a stream, for example, represents a kingdom split by revolution or partition; conversely, a stream terminated by the intersection of another represents a kingdom eliminated by conquest. The chart is “synchronological” in that, by employing a scale of vertical red lines at evenly-spaced ten-year intervals, users may view events taking place more or less simultaneously across the known world. In all, some 5900 years are covered, from the origins of the Canaanites, Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Chinese at the Tower of Babel through the early 1880s. A separate chart at upper left varies the “stream” metaphor somewhat, using it instead to explain Biblical genealogy from the creation of Adam and Eve through the birth of Jesus.
In all, a great rarity and an impressive production, all the more so for being a Mexican regional imprint.
Citation: Boston rar maps