Rafael D. Palacios (1905–1993) was a

Puerto Rican-American Stateside Puerto Ricans ( es, link=no, Puertorriqueños de Estados Unidos), also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans ( es, link=no, puertorriqueño-americanos,), or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the U ...

freelance artist and illustrator specializing in book jackets and maps for major U.S. publishers in the mid- and late 20th century. Among the notable maps of his prolific and highly successful career are those in most of

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

's history books and in

Bruce Catton Charles Bruce Catton (October 9, 1899 – August 28, 1978) was an American historian and journalist, known best for his books concerning the American Civil War. Known as a narrative historian, Catton specialized in popular history, featuring int ...

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

books.

Biography

Of Spanish-Puerto Rican parentage, Palacios was born in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, capital of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. When he was five months old his family moved to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. He was educated in the Puerto Rican schools, but as an artist was largely self-taught. In 1928 he did his first fine arts sketches while in San Juan. He made something of a specialty of Afro-Caribbean portraiture. He made a brief visit to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1931. In 1937 he was chosen, with two others, to represent Puerto Rico at the second annual Exhibition of American Art in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1938 he also exhibited at the Delphic Studios in New York, where he presented his first display of Afro-Antillean art (a one-man show of his

gouaches Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

). That same year he also exhibited at the first Newspaper Artists' Exhibition in New York, and in several one-man shows at the

Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...

in San Juan and at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

. Beginning in 1938 Palacios worked for American newspapers as an illustrator and translator of comic strips. In the mid-1940s, he shared a studio with several other freelance artists and did a number of covers and endpapers for

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

. His endpapers had a strong cartographic quality and served a similar purpose with

Dell Books Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

mapback Mapback is a term used by paperback collectors to refer to the earliest paperback books published by Dell Books, beginning in 1943. The books are known as mapbacks because the back cover of the book contains a map that illustrates the location ...

s. In 1948, Palacios was chosen to produce the maps for Gen.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

, ''

Crusade in Europe ''Crusade in Europe'' is a book of wartime memoirs by General Dwight D. Eisenhower published by Doubleday in 1948. Maps were provided by Rafael Palacios. ''Crusade in Europe'' is a personal account by one of the senior military figures of Wo ...

''. Palacios took over as the cartographer from

George Annand George Annand (c.1798 – 9 January 1856) was a politician in colonial Victoria (Australia), a member of the Victorian Legislative Council. Annand was born in Banffshire, Scotland, and arrived in the area known then as the Port Phillip District ...

for the ''Rivers of America'' series in 1956. The last 13 books in the series (1956–74) contain maps by him.

Works illustrated

*''The Gift Horse'' (1945) by

Frank Gruber Frank Gruber (born February 2, 1904, Elmer, Minnesota, died December 9, 1969, Santa Monica, California) was an American writer. He was a writer of stories for pulp fiction magazines. He also wrote dozens of novels, mostly Westerns and detecti ...

(Bantam) *''The Fog Comes'' (1946) and ''Dead Center'' (1946) by Mary Collins (Bantam) *''Lydia Bailey'' (1947) by Kenneth Robert (Doubleday) ndpaper map*''

'' (1948) by

(Doubleday) *''

The Well of the Unicorn ''The Well of the Unicorn'' is a fantasy novel by the American writer Fletcher Pratt. It was first published in 1948, under the pseudonym George U. Fletcher, in hardcover by William Sloane Associates. All later editions have appeared under the aut ...

'' (1948) by

Fletcher Pratt Murray Fletcher Pratt (25 April 1897 – 10 June 1956) was an American writer of history, science fiction, and fantasy. He is best known for his works on naval history and the American Civil War and for fiction written with L. Sprague de Camp. ...

*'' A Short History of the Civil War: Ordeal by Fire'' (1948) by

(William Sloane) aps*''

The Return of Tarzan ''The Return of Tarzan'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published in the pulp magazine '' New Story Magazine'' in the issues for Ju ...

'' (1948 reprint), by E.R. Burroughs (

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...

) nd paper map, board, and title page drawings *''Canada: Tomorrow's Giant'' (1957) by

Bruce Hutchison William Bruce Hutchison, (5 June 1901– 14 September 1992) was a Canadian writer and journalist. Born in Prescott, Ontario, Canada, Hutchison was educated in public schools in Victoria, British Columbia. He married Dorothy Kidd McDiarmid ...

(Oxford University Press) aps*''Constantinople; birth of an empire'' (1957) by

Harold Lamb Harold Albert Lamb (September 1, 1892 – April 9, 1962) was an American writer, novelist, historian, and screenwriter. In both his fiction and nonfiction work, Lamb gravitated toward subjects related to Asia and Middle East. Lamb was an advocat ...

maps*''The Singing Wilderness'' (1957) by

Sigurd F. Olson Sigurd Ferdinand Olson (April 4, 1899 – January 13, 1982) was an American writer, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness. For more than thirty years, he served as a wilderness guide in the lakes and forests of the Quet ...

*''William Diamond's Drum'' (1959) eprinted as ''Lexington and Concord'', 1963by Arthur B. Tourtellot maps*''Around the World in 2,000 Pictures'' (1959), ed. by A. Milton Runyon and Vilma F. Bergane (Doubleday) 0 maps*''The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians'' (1964) by Ralph K. Andrist (21 maps) *''The Habsburgs'' (1966) by Dorothy Gies McGuigan (Doubleday) *''

Asimov's Guide to the Bible ''Asimov's Guide to the Bible'' is a work by Isaac Asimov that was first published in two volumes in 1968 and 1969, covering the Old Testament and the New Testament (including the Catholic Old Testament, or deuterocanonical, books (see Catholic ...

'' (1967, 1969) by

*''Stalin and His Generals: Soviet Military Memoirs of World War II'' (1969) by Seweryn Bailer (Pegasus) aps*'' The Last of the Bush Pilots'' (1969) by Harmon "Bud" Helmericks aps*''

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare ''Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare'' (1970) by Isaac Asimov is a two-volume guide to the works of the celebrated English writer William Shakespeare. The numerous maps were drafted by the artist Rafael Palacios. Structure The work gives a short gui ...

'' (1970) by Isaac Asimov *'' Great Cities of the Ancient World'' (1972) by

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...

(Doubleday) *''The Mexican War 1846-47'' (1974) by K. Jack Bauer, University of Nebraska Press *''

Shardik ''Shardik'' is a 1974 fantasy novel by Richard Adams. ''Shardik'' is his second novel, and first of two novels set in the fictional Beklan Empire. The events revolve around the discovery, capture and military and symbolic uses made of an incred ...

'' (1974), by

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (9 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist and writer of the books ''Watership Down'', ''Maia'', ''Shardik'' and ''The Plague Dogs''. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army ...

ap*''Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath'' (1982) by

John Toland John Toland (30 November 167011 March 1722) was an Irish people, Irish rationalist philosopher and freethought, freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, whi ...

(Doubleday) aps*''The Image of War: 1861-1865'' (1981–84), edited by William C. Davis (Doubleday) * "A Diary of Battle: The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865" (1998), edited by,

Allan Nevins Joseph Allan Nevins (May 20, 1890 – March 5, 1971) was an American historian and journalist, known for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and J ...

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional of ...

External links

''Rivers of America'' series maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palacios, Rafael 20th-century cartographers 1905 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American artists