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Title: Map of the City of Havana and Complete Road Map of the Island | Showing Main Highways and Side Roads
- Author: Francisco Rojo
- Date: 1942
- Condition: See description
- Inches: 30 1/2 x 25 [Unfolded]
- Centimeters: 77.47 x 63.50 [Unfolded]
- Product ID: 308596
This highly detailed folding map, titled "Plano de La Habana," presents a brightly colored street map of Havana and highlights its neighborhoods, main roads, and waterfronts in striking yellow and blue. The map is surrounded by ornate blue borders, showcasing over twenty inset black-and-white photographs of Havana’s most celebrated monuments, plazas, and public buildings—offering an elegant frame and a visual tour through the city's architectural heritage.
The verso features dense bilingual travel information, practical for 1940s motorists and visitors. It includes tables of highway distances along the Carretera Central, service station locations, hotel listings, and advertisements from Goodyear and local Cuban businesses. With its distance charts and comprehensive indexes, this side serves as both a reference guide and a fascinating relic of the era’s travel culture.
Condition
Very good overall condition with minor separations along some fold lines. A small tear extends across a section where the map is attached to the accompanying booklet, but the piece remains securely bound in its original covers.
Background on Creator
Francisco Rojo y García was an editor and cartographer active in the mid-20th century, noted for his work in Cuba. He is particularly known for publishing and editing maps such as the "Nuevo mapa de Cuba" (New Map of Cuba), released by the Cárdenas y Cía publishing house in Havana in 1951. Rojo y García also produced a bilingual map of Havana in circa 1950, which was aimed at American tourists and creatively illustrated major landmarks and city features.
His maps were recognized for being accessible and informative, often intended for both local and international audiences, and they form an informative record of Cuba during a period of significant transition and modernization in the mid-20th century.