GROSSI, Augusto. - La Piovra Russa. Carta Serio-Comica Pel 1878.

Variant of the very rare political caricature map by Grossi of the nations of Europe, published in Bologna in the supplement of the newspaper "Le Perroquet / Al papagallo, N° 15, Anno VI. The map has no text on verso. The cartouche at lower right contains an explanatory text in French instead of the title. The name of Grossi does not appear in the plate. The title is placed in the top left-hand part of the map.
Known as the Octopus Map from the brooding presence of the Russian Empire depicted as a massive octopus, whose tentacles stretch out towards Europe. In this map, the Octopus has Turkey, Persia and Poland but has been wounded by Crimea and is being fought off by Germany.
This map, by Grossi, followed the style created by Frederick W. Rose, showing Russia as an octopus.
The map was published in the year of the The third Paris World's Fair (1878) and "Marianne" has his face turned-away from the war-theatre, making it slightly different than Rose' version. It looks like France was too occupied with the expo in that year.

Very rare. Not in Laurent Baridon, Un atlas imaginaire. Cartes allégoriques et satiriques. Only one other copy has appeard on the market since years. * Il papagallo di Bologna, (Le Perroquet de Bologne), journal politique satirique italien publié de 1873 à 1915.