Advertising maps of industrial cities: the initiative of Calvet i Boix (1879-1890)

Abstract

A private editor from Barcelona, Joan Calvet i Boix, published between 1879 and 1890 more than 30 maps of Spanish cities surrounded by advertisements of featured local business, those sponsoring the edition. The urban advertising maps published by Calvet transmitted an image of modernity of these cities and became a symbol of its economic and social transformation. This project is one of the most relevant publication initiatives of urban mapping in Spain, in the second half of the 19th century.

Key words: history of cartography, urban mapping, advertising maps.