Description

J.B. Jannot
Le tour du monde en 120 images, grand concours du chocolat menier

Original vintage poster
Lithograph
61 x 112 cm
1957

A stunning 1957 pictorial map of the world drawn by J. B. Jannot and issued to promote Chocolat Menier. This map was distributed by Chocolat Menier retailers to boost interest in the fading French chocolate giant. The map allows its reader to follow Jacqueline, Chocolat Menier’s adorable ‘little girl’ mascot, on a great tour du monde (tour of the world) starting and finishing in Paris. There are 120 destinations, most highlighted with striking graphic imagery. Destinations were associated with tickets given out in bars of Menier Chocolate.

Chocolat Menier a was founded in 1816 as a pharmaceutical supply house specialising in chocolate, which was then used only medicinally. Around 1893 the company hired Firmin Bouisset to promote their chocolate as a recreational treat. They came up with the image of an innocent young girl, Jacqueline, writing graffiti on a wall with a piece of Menier chocolate. The exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition as one of the largest chocolate companies in the world. Nevertheless, by the 1950s faced with growing local and international competition, and suffering under mismanagement, the company fell upon hard times. It was around this time that the present promotional was produced.

This map was drawn by J. B. Jannot. It is one of two maps drawn by Jannot for Chocolat Menier, the other being a map of Europe and Asia, also with 120 tickets and a ‘journey’ theme. Both were published in an attempt to revive the failing chocolate company. The poster proved popular, but insufficient to revive Menier’s status. Chocolat Menier was sold and passed through numerous hands. Today the brand is owned by the Swiss chocolate conglomerate Nestlé.

J. B. Jannot (fl. c. 1940 – 1970), also known by his nom de plume Jan-Loup, was a French cartoonist and illustrator active in Paris in the middle part of the 20th century. He issued well known comics for the graphic magazine Lisette including Le Trésor de la Crique aux Oursins, Les Naufragés de L’Ile aux Crabes, Mireille de Camargue, and La jeunesse d’Arago, as well as prepared a graphic novel adaption of James Fennimore Coopers La Prairie. He also illustrated children’s books for the Collection Jean-Francois and Editions Fleurus.

Condition: Generally very good, folds as issued, slight wear to a couple of the corners.

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