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1861 Mitchell's Map of Illinois w/ Chicago Inset

IL-m-60
$65.00
County Map of the State of Illinois. / Plan of Chicago. - Main View
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1861 Mitchell's Map of Illinois w/ Chicago Inset

IL-m-60


Title


County Map of the State of Illinois. / Plan of Chicago.
  1861 (dated)     11 x 14 in (27.94 x 35.56 cm)

Description


A beautiful example of S. A. Mitchell Jr.'s 1861 map of Illinois and Chicago. Depicts the state of Illinois in considerable detail with color coding at the county level. Also notes roads, railroads, rivers, cities towns, and some geographical features. Features a large and detailed inset plan of Chicago in the lower left hand quadrant. Dated and copyrighted, 'Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1861 by S. Augustus Mitchell Jr. in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the U.S. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.' Engraved by S. Augustus Mitchell Jr. for inclusion as map no. 38 in the 1864 edition of Mitchell's New General Atlas.

Cartographer


Samuel Augustus Mitchell (March 20, 1792 - December 20, 1868) began his map publishing career in the early 1830s. Mitchell was born in Bristol, Connecticut. He relocated to Philadelphia in 1821. Having worked as a school teacher and a geographical writer, Mitchell was frustrated with the low quality and inaccuracy of school texts of the period. His first maps were an attempt to rectify this problem. In the next 20 years Mitchell would become the most prominent American map publisher of the mid-19th century. Mitchell worked with prominent engravers J. H. Young, H. S. Tanner, and H. N. Burroughs before attaining the full copyright on his maps in 1847. In 1849 Mitchell either partnered with or sold his plates to Thomas, Cowperthwait and Company who continued to publish the Mitchell's Universal Atlas. By about 1856 most of the Mitchell plates and copyrights were acquired by Charles Desilver who continued to publish the maps, many with modified borders and color schemes, until Mitchell's son, Samuel Augustus Mitchell Junior, entered the picture. In 1859, S.A. Mitchell Jr. purchased most of the plates back from Desilver and introduced his own floral motif border. From 1860 on, he published his own editions of the New General Atlas. The younger Mitchell became as prominent as his father, publishing maps and atlases until 1887, when most of the copyrights were again sold and the Mitchell firm closed its doors for the final time. More by this mapmaker...

Source


Mitchell's New General Atlas, containing Maps of the Various Countries of the World, Plans of Cities, Etc., Embraced in Fifty-three Quarto Maps, forming a series of Eighty-Four Map and Plans, together with Valuable Statistical Tables. (1864 Edition)    

Condition


Very good condition. Wide clean margins. Blank on verso.

References


New York Public Library, Map Division, 1510816.