A Serio-Comic map of Europe for the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano

An Italian version of the serio-comic map of Europe, with the countries drawn as national caricatures, a commentary on the peace negotiations at the end of the Russian Turkish War in 1878. As the victor, Russian claimed lands in the Caucasus, allowed Austria to take over Bosnia and Herzegovinia, and let Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria proclaim independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Octopus is shown with its tentacles threatening its neighbours, Poland, Turkey and Persia. Elsewhere England is rushing forward but is still not going to arrive in time; Greece is a Crab and Crete a fish swallowing a sword; Italy is roller-skating, holding a frog like a purse; and Bulgaria is a skull on the shoulder of the Turk. Neither Britain nor France were happy with the Treaty of San Stefano, so it was renegotiated less than three months later by the Congress of Berlin, attended by British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor Germany. 'Il Papagallo' was a satirical magazine founded in January 1873 by Augusto Grossi (1835-1919), which specialised in colour-printed caricatures like this one. At its peak circulation reached 50,000, and in 1878 a Parisian version, 'Le Perroquet', and London edition, 'The Parrot', were launched. 'Il Papagallo' closed in 1915, when Grossi was 70 years old. This example is apparently unrecorded. Other examples we have traced have the title in the box lower right, with Grossi's name next to it. Here the title has been replaced by a French description, suggesting it was published in Bologna for the French magazine.