Maps > North America(349 items) > United States (24 items) 
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BAUR, C.F.

[The Americas] Neueste Karte von America.... New Chart of America showing the tracks and distances of steam vessels, with the distances to the principal ports of Europe, to the great Lines of Railway and the submarine Cables, constructed for the Use of Geographie [sic.] commercial.... Carte Nouvelle de l'Amerique...

Stuttgart: Julius Maier, circa 1885]. Tinted lithographic map, with title in German, English and French, with original outline colour, on six folding sheets, backed onto linen, and edged with blue cloth tape, in excellent condition, in modern blue cloth box. Sheet size: 63 1/2 x 48 1/2 inches.

A rare and highly detailed monumental wall map of the Western Hemisphere

This fascinating map excellently embodies the ethic of empiricist cartography that prevailed in the nineteenth-century. All of North and South America is depicted in great detail with very assured geographical accuracy for the time. A very attractive aesthetic effect is created, with landmasses tinted in a shade of orange, juxtaposed against the seas, which are coloured in a golden brown hue. The various political boundaries of the various states are outlined in bright, resplendent colours. The seas feature a wealth of hydrological information, most notably the great currents that traverse the oceans, notably the Humboldt Current in the Pacific and the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic. The lines of major shipping routes and the distances between key ports are also noted on the map.

The depiction of North America is most interesting, while the American west had by this time been settled in many areas, not all of its territories had yet been admitted into the Union as states. The Canadian Prairies are captured just before the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and the great wave of settlement that would result. The depiction of the Arctic is fascinating, as while the southern part of the Arctic Archepelago is charted, the most northerly regions, such as Ellesmere Island, are absent from the map, totally unknown to explorers. Alaska, which was purchased by the U.S. from Russia in 1867 is shown to be a complete wilderness.

The islands of the Caribbean are shown to be almost entirely under the colonial hegemony of the various European powers, and the nations of South America exhibit very different borders than the ones which we are familiar with today. Colombia still owned Panama, and straight, arbitrary lines mark the international boundaries in the heart of the continent - the still mysterious Amazon Basin. Bolivia is shown to own a piece of the Pacific Coast by the Atacama Desert, and Peru's borders extend further south than they do today. The map shows these countries as they appeared before the Pacific War (1881-3), during which Chile roundly defeated its northern neighbours, and seized three littoral provinces.

The map features six very interesting cartographic insets. In each of the top corners are insets of the polar regions showing both of these extremities of the globe to be somewhat enigmatic. Towards the lower left of the map is a detailed inset featuring the most populated region of the United States, the Washington-Boston corridor. Another inset depicts the elevation of the topography of North America, while towards the lower right of the map, another inset similarly details South America. A most curious aspect is featured in the final inset, an 'ethnographic map' of the Americas, which shows which parts of the hemisphere are inhabited by a majority of people of indigenous versus European ancestry.

#15162$3,500.00
 
 
COLTON, G. Woolworth and Phelps & Watson

General Map of the United States of America, the British Provinces, Mexico, the West Indies and Central America with Part of New Granada and Venezuela. [with:] G. Woolworth Colton's New County Map of the Northeastern Portion of the United States with Canada etc.

New York: Phelps & Watson, 1862. Lithographic wall map, 47 x 43 inches, full period colour. Expertly restored, backed with modern linen, trimmed in burgundy cloth, on contemporary rollers. A few creases and a bit of expected tanning. Very good.

A handsome wall map, consisting of two separate maps, both drawn by G. W. Colton. The upper half is a general map of the entire United States from the second year of the Civil War. No acknowledgement is made of the seceded states, and there is even a table that includes the "Population of the Slave States for 1850 and 1860."

The lower half of the sheet consists of Colton's very detailed county map of the Northeastern States, which extends south and west to include Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota territories on a large scale. The depiction of Virginia is significant on this map. Issued between the time when delegates from western Virginia declared independence from the Mother State, but before West Virginia was admitted into the Union, it shows Virginia with its full pre-Civil War boundaries. It is also noteworthy that Virginia was included at all in a map of the "northeastern United States" issued during the Civil War. On the lower map, each existing county is separately coloured, so that the line of the western frontier at the time of publication is easily traceable.

The larger general map gives an excellent portrait of the American West during the Civil War. It shows the new state of Oregon (1859) and the new territories of Colorado and Nebraska (1861). Arizona is still shown below New Mexico, and Idaho Territory (est. 1863) is still a part of Washington. The Pony Express and Overland Express Routes are laid down, as are several transcontinental railroad proposals. The entire map is bordered in a grapevine motif with engravings of the U.S. Capitol, Mount Vernon, Willammette Falls, Oregon, and the Connecticut River Valley in the corners, and four obelisk-shaped monuments in the vertical borders. It also includes a table of distances within the United States and internationally, as well as tables of "Square Miles and Population of the United States."

Not in Phillips, America; Wheat, Transmississippi West. Rumsey 718.

#5395$3,500.00
 
 
COLTON, G.W.

New Guide Map of the United States & Canada. With Railroads, Counties Etc.

New York: Colton, & Chicago: Rufus Blanchard, 1861. Period color, 30¼ x 34¾ inches, folding into gilt-stamped dark brown cloth covers. Fine condition.

Not in Rumsey

#3120$1,500.00
 
 
COLTON, J.H.

Colton's Map of the United States the Canadas &C. Showing the Rail Roads, Canals & Stage Roads with Distances from Place to Place

New York: Colton, 1855. Period outline color, 26¼ x 29 inches, folding into gilt-stamped brown cloth covers. Near fine condition.

The primary map extends as far west as central Texas. Texas' first railroad is shown (from Galveston to Houston). There is an inset "Map of New England and Eastern New York." Not in Rumsey.

#3121$1,500.00
 
 
D'ANVILLE, Jean Baptiste Bourguignon (1697-1782)

North America from the French of Mr. d'Anville improved with the British Surveys made Since the Peace

London: Sayer & Bennett, June 1775. Copper engraved map with original outline colour. Sheet size: 21 x 28 1/2 inches.

A fine of copy this attractive map of North America

Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville was the successor to Guillaume De l'Isle in the sense that he maintained the rigorous standard for accuracy that De l'Isle had established. D'Anville was the last French mapmaker to establish an international reputation which was superior to all his contemporaries, as witnessed by the respect shown by English cartographers and publishers during an era when the two countries were often at war and always hostile to one another.

This D'Anville map was first appropriated by Thomas Jefferys in 1755, who used it to demonstrate French provocations that would lead imminently to war. In 1775, Sayer & Bennett revised Jefferys' map to show British colonial America as understood when the Revolution broke out.. The Peace referred to in the title refers to the 1763 peace accord with France.

Stevens & Tree 51 (c); McCorkle 775.2

#19739$1,750.00
 
 
EVANS, Lewis (c.1700-1756)

Bowles's New One-sheet Map of the Independent States of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pensylvania [sic.], New Jersey. New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island. &c. comprehending also the habitations & hunting countries of the confederate Indians

London: printed for the Proprietors Bowles & Carver, [circa 1796-1800]. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour, overall in very good condition. Sheet size: 21 x 27 1/2 inches.

A rare late issue of an important map by `the leading American geographer of his day' (Stephenson & McKee)

This 'landmark map'(op.cit.) was first published in 1755 with the title A general Map of the Middle British Colonies in America. It was available either as a separate publication or bound into Evans' Geographical, Historical, Political. Philosophical and Mechanical Essays. The First Containing an Analysis of a General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America (Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, 1755). `Evans was the leading American geographer of his day. He incorporated into his map a wealth of geographical information not previously available on other maps, especially for the Ohio country. Extending from Quebec to Virginia and from the Atlantic coast to the Ohio River, his map was published in numerous authorized and pirated editions throughout the remainder of the eighteenth century' (op.cit.). The Bowles piracy was one of the longest lived versions: John Bowles first issued a version of Evans' map in about 1760 and continued to do so for the rest of the century with alterations to the imprint and occasional changes of title. The present example shows the Bowles piracy in its final form, and appears to be considerably rarer than a number of the earlier issues: no copies of this issue are listed as having sold at auction in the past thirty years.

Cf. Brown Early Maps of the Ohio Valley 41 (the original Philadelphia issue); cf. Degrees of Latitude 34 (Philadelphia issue); cf. Gipson Lewis Evans; W. Klinefelter `Lewis Evans' in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (1971) N.S., Vol.LXI, p.56; B. McCorkle New England 760.3 issue 6; cf. Schwartz & Ehrenberg The Mapping of America p.165 (Philadelphia issue); cf. Stephenson & McKee Virginia in maps p.82 (Philadelphia issue); cf. H.N. Stevens Lewis Evans His Map of the Middle British Colonies in America (1924) (does not include this issue); cf. Stevens & Tree 29 and 30 (does not include this issue); cf. Suárez Shedding the Veil 57 (Philadelphia issue).

#16901$5,250.00
 
 
FADEN, William (1750-1836)

The United States of North America with the British & Spanish Territories according to the Treaty of 1784

[London]: Wm. Faden, Feb. 11, 1785. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour, trimmed within platemark top margin, trimmed to platemark bottom margin, neatlines intact, mounted on silk mending a split at center fold, large lateral margins. Sheet size: 20 3/4 x 26 1/2 inches.

The extremely rare fourth issue of one of the most important early maps of the United States

Faden's sequence of maps of the United States represents one of the most important cartographic depictions of the newly independent republic. The present map is the fourth issue of the fourteen total appellations (including the parent plan and thirteen subsequent issues), and is one of the extremely rare first five appellations of this series which almost never appear on the market. The Faden sequence comprises a critical and fascinating series of historical documents regarding the political development of the United States, especially since each issue captures a distinct stage in America's process of transformative change. The present map depicts the United States with its new boundaries as determined at the end of the Revolutionary War, as ratified at the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3rd, 1783. (The Treaty came into effect in April of 1784). The map is beautifully coloured to identify American, British, Spanish territories, and the coasts of Newfoundland, rich in cod then, to which the French were granted fishing rights.

The Treaty of Paris settlement established the new United States from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Unfortunately, the source of the Mississippi had not been determined, though the map provides two possible "Mississippi River by Conjecture" sites. Consequently, no definitive northwestern border could be determined. More relevantly, we note open western borders for every state from Georgia to Pennsylvania, except South Carolina. The boundaries between New York, the Iroquois Nation and Pennsylvania are non-existent, but Vermont, though not yet a ratified state, has been inserted between New York and New Hampshire, the beginning of a settlement of an old quarrel. Maine is part of Massachusetts and divided between the "Main" and "Sagahadok" regions.

The land west of the Appalachians but east of the Mississippi, while theoretically apportioned to the United States, is shown to be in fact in the possession of the various native tribes. British hopes for this region lay very much with them.

By the Treaty of Paris, Spain, who had allied themselves with France, took back possession of Florida from Britain, and the vast Louisiana Territory from France. England and Spain were now the predominant North American powers with the fledgling United States relatively minor.

The composition is completed by an extremely fine title cartouche, which depicts a scene in which slaves prepare barrels, bundles and bales for export. This cartouche appeared on several incarnations of this map, and it points to a couple of interesting aspects of the British perception of America: one, America's continuance of slavery, declarations of rights and freedom notwithstanding, and two, the benefits of commerce to both nations. In fact, trade between the two countries resumed soon after the war, despite French protestations.

Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography," in Tooley, The Mapping of America, 80(d), Philips, Maps, p. 865.

#21420$18,500.00
 
 
FADEN, William (1750-1836)

The United States of North America: with the British Territories and those of Spain, according to the Treaty, of 1784

[London]: Wm. Faden, Feby. 11th, 1793. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 24 1/8 x 31 1/8 inches.

The extremely rare fifth issue of one of the most important early maps of the United States

Faden's sequence of maps of the United States represents one of the most important cartographic depictions of the newly independent republic. The present map is the fifth issue of the fourteen total appellations (including the parent plan and thirteen subsequent issues), and is one of the extremely rare first five appellations of this series which almost never appear on the market. The Faden sequence comprises a critical and fascinating series of historical documents regarding the political development of the United States, especially since each issue captures a distinct stage in America's process of transformative change.

The present map depicts the United States' boundaries as determined by the Treaty of 1784, when in actuality it is referring to the settlement agreed to at the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3rd, 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War. This treaty came into effect in April, 1784. The map is in part based on John Mitchell's A Map of the British and French Dominions in North America (1755) that was used by delegates during the treaty process. While the United States was granted a large territory from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, and from the northern frontiers of Florida to the Canadian border, this map shows that the settled area of the nation was confined to the former Thirteen Colonies, and the two newly admitted states of Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792). Even then, the western boundaries of many of the states, past the Appalachians, are undefined. Although Washington, D.C. was in the process of being laid out, it was not yet built, and is absent from the map. One of the most interesting aspects of the map is its labeling of "Franklinia" or the "New State of Franklin." This refers to an attempt by settlers in the Great Smoky Mountains to secede from North Carolina and to form a new state. From 1785 to 1789, seven of the states of the Union endorsed the plan, but it failed to achieve the required two-thirds support to be admitted as a state at the Constitutional Convention. Various lands in Kentucky and the future Tennessee are shown to be reserved for war veterans from "Virginia" and "North Carolina." Another curious appearance is the name of "Indiana" in what is now West Virginia, but nowhere near the future state of that name. Various areas in the southern Midwest are shown to be owned by private land development companies including the "Wabash" and "Ohio" companies. One such enterprise was headed by "Colonel Simmes [sic]," John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814), an eccentric New Jersey magistrate who later wrote a book which theorized that the interior of the earth was both hollow and inhabitable, and could be entered through the poles.

In the same treaty, Spain received possession of Florida from Britain, and the vast Louisiana Territory from France. In the north, although the treaty was supposed to have settled the boundary with Canada from the Great Plains to the Atlantic, a series of geographic misconceptions left the frontier in a nebulous state. Faden elected to present the extreme British conception of the border in northern Maine, and in the northwest, the border was supposed to run west to the source of the Mississippi, when in reality the source was located well to the south. The map also features "The Twenty Leagues Line" located off of the east coast that marked the exclusive maritime jurisdiction of the United States. The composition is completed by an especially finely engraved and coloured title cartouche which depicts scenes of commerce in the prosperous new nation.

Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography," 80(e), in Tooley, The Mapping of America; ,not in Phillips.

#19769$18,500.00
 
 
FADEN, William (1750-1836)

[United States] The United States of North America: with the British Territories, and those of Spain

[London]: Wm. Faden, 1809. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 22 x 27 1/2 inches.

The seventh issue of one of the most important early maps of the United States

Faden's sequence of maps of the United States represents one of the most important cartographic depictions of the newly independent republic. The present map is the seventh issue of the fourteen total appellations (including the parent plan and thirteen subsequent issues). The Faden sequence comprises a fascinating series of historical documents regarding the political development of the United States, each issue capturing a distinct stage in America's transformative change.

The map does not acknowledge the recent admission of the State of Ohio (1803), though the process of territorial development is noted in "The Seven Ranges" and "Army Land" in the southeast corner of the state, where Thomas Hutchins established the wisdom of using right angles and grids to establish governmental and proprietorial entities, the system that would overlay most of America's future territory. Various private and public plans are underway throughout the southern halves of Ohio and the future Indiana and Illinois. For example, an enterprise that was headed by "Colonel Simmes [sic]," in western Ohio. John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814), an eccentric New Jersey magistrate, who had contributed to the Continental Army, and who later wrote a book which theorized that the interior of the earth was both hollow and inhabitable, and could be entered through the poles.

The map is helpfully colored to designate, as his previous maps had, the rulership of the various parts. Now the list consists of Great Britain, Spain, France (really just cod fishing rights of the western coast of Newfoundland) and the United States, whose responsibilities now include the Louisiana Territory. Faden also designated purple regions that represent, "The Aborigines or Indians, and Boundaries of the Lands they have Granted". The purple regions tellingly assert the rapid spread of the white settlers including all the Great Lakes and cutting through New York, Pennsylvania and south through Georgia. Clearly, the British supposition and hope that the Americans would be confined to the Atlantic seaboard was false.

Faden elected to present the extreme British conception of the border in northern Maine, (whose northern boundary disputes would continue well into the 19th century) and in the northwest, the border was supposed to run west to the source of the Mississippi, when in reality the source was located well to the south. The map also features "The Twenty Leagues Line" located off of the east coast that marked the exclusive maritime jurisdiction of the United States. The composition is completed by an especially finely engraved title cartouche which depicts scenes of commerce in the prosperous new nation.

Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography," 80 (g) in Tooley "The Mapping of America." Not in Phillips.

#21422$10,000.00
 
 
LAURIE, Robert (1755-1836) & James WHITTLE (d.1818)

The United States of America with the British Possessions of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland divided with the French, also the Spanish territories of Louisiana and Florida, according to the preliminary articles of peace signed at Versailles the 20th of Jany. 1783

London: Laurie & Whittle, "12th May 1794" [but circa 1803]. Copper engraved map, full period hand colouring. Sheet size: 20 3/8 x 27 3/4 inches.

A fine copy, with full period colouring, of an important issue of this map showing the Louisiana Purchase.

The origins of this map date to the mid-18th century. Jefferys took D'Anville's map as his model for the first issue of the present map which was published with the title North America from the French of Mr. D'Anville improved in May 1755. At least two issues (1768, 1775) appeared before Sayer and Bennett re-issued the map with a new title The United States of America with the British Posessions , with article III of the 1783 Versailles Treaty engraved on the plate to the left of the cartouche. For the 1794 issue (Stevens & Tree 51(e)), Laurie & Whittle added the 13-star American flag above the cartouche, and text describing the rationale behind the colouring: "The United States are Coloured ... Green / The British Posessions .... Red..' etc.

The colouring of the present example indicates that it was produced after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803: a vast Louisiana territory is coloured entirely in green, indicating that it was part of the United States, and West Florida is shown as part of the purchase. Stevens & Tree 51(f) record an issue of the map on paper watermarked 1801; the present example, on wove paper without a watermark, appears to be that issue based on the colouring of the boundaries.

Stevens & Tree 51(f).

#24798$2,750.00
 
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