1931 A Map of Chicago’s Gangland from Authentic Sources...

This visually appealing, rare and highly sought after pictorial map depicts Chicago during its notorious era of organized crime in the 1920s and early 1930s. At that time, Chicago’s lawlessness was an object of media fascination, receiving copious coverage in national newspapers and serving as dramatic fodder for many Hollywood scriptwriters. The map seems targeted at fans of these mobster stories, marking spots of famous killings, sites of clashes between police and bootleggers, and the homes and headquarters of notable gangsters. Its rarity is due to action taken by officials participating in organizing the upcoming World’s Fair. Fearing the map would leave a negative impression on prospective visitors the vast majority of these maps were destroyed before the fair took place. Ostensibly, the map was designed with dual purposes, first of all to promote the upcoming World’s Fair of 1933 and, as the title suggests, “Designed to Inculcate the Most Important Principles of Piety and Virtue