INFLUENCE DE L'INFLUENZA SUR L'EUROPE. [The influence of Flu on Europe]

A 1890's rare chromolithographed humouristic map on a flu pandemic in Europe. Published by the French satiric paper 'Le Troupier' in Paris.

The largest nineteenth-century epidemic of influenza, called ‘the Russian epidemic,’ arrived in Europe from the east in November and December of 1889 and lasted till 1890.
It was the first epidemic to be so widely commented on in the intensively developing daily press. Daily Paris, London, Vienna, Polish and Berlin newspapers provided information on the epidemic.
Apart from data about where and when the illness occurred, the reports provided often: descriptions of symptoms, treatment methods, data on morbidity and mortality, effect on individual people of high rank in the country, information on the activities of public authorities, and impact of the epidemic on daily life.

The 1889–1890 influenza epidemic had 2 faces: the real one, discovered while being afflicted with the disease, and the media one, discovered through the information available in the press !