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Details 1849 Mitchell Map of Kentucky
1849 (undated) $225.00

1850 Cowperthwait Map of Kentucky

KT-m-50
$115.00
A New Map of Kentucky with its Roads & Distances from place to place along the Stage & Steam Boat Routes. - Main View
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1850 Cowperthwait Map of Kentucky

KT-m-50


Title


A New Map of Kentucky with its Roads & Distances from place to place along the Stage & Steam Boat Routes.
  1850     13 x 16 in (33.02 x 40.64 cm)

Description


A stunning hand colored map of Kentucky published by S. A. Mitchell Sr. in 1850. Depicts the state in superb detail with counties, roads, canals, cities and rivers clearly noted. Inset maps depict the vicinity of Lexington, the Falls of Ohio, and Lewis & Mason counties. A table in the upper right quadrant indicates steam boat millage. Cartographically this map is based on earlier maps by J. S. Tanner. Map was issued as plate no. 28 in Mitchell's New General Atlas. Dated and copyrighted 'Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1850 by Thomas Cowperthwait & Co. in the Clerks office of the District court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.'

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...

Condition


Fine or perfect condition. Blank on verso.

References


Rumsey 0537.028 (1846 edition), Phillips 6103-27. Rumsey 0977.024 (Tanner edition)