1838 Brown and Parsons Pocket Map of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island

Flavius A. Brown (August 31, 1806 - February 13, 1880) was an educator, politician, and publisher based in Hartford, Connecticut. Born in Hebron, Connecticut, Brown became renowned at a young age for his penmanship and by age 16 had become a teacher. After helping to construct a new schoolhouse in Hartford, which came to bear his name, Brown served as the chairman of the city's First School District for many years afterwards. He took on other roles in the community, including as secretary of the Hartford County Agricultural Society, and in business, serving as the director of several banks and insurance companies. He was elected Treasurer of Hartford in 1857. His career in publishing began with a business partnership with buying out the H.F. Sumner and Company bookstore in 1834, renamed Packard and Brown, and in 1837 renamed again to Brown and Parsons (Edward W. Parsons). Parsons retired in 1852 and Brown took on one W. Gross as a partner until he stepped back to focus on other pursuits from 1858. Still, the name Brown and Gross continued to be used and it remained a prominent publisher into the late 19th century. More by this mapmaker...

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. Learn More...

David H. Vance (1799 - c. May 29, 1832) was an American mapmaker, surveyor, and engraver based in New York and Philadelphia. Vance is an important if elusive figure. He appears in a ship passenger manifest form 1824 returning from England, where he is identified as a Land Agent and Surveyor. He drafted many of the maps for Anthony Finley's New American Atlas, and engraved several maps for Harty's Modern Atlas. In 1825 - 26 Vance compiled an important large-scale wall map of the United States and a map of the world, both also in partnership with Anthony Finley. In 1825, along with J. Ogden Dey, he completed a seminal map of western New York state. Learn More...

James Hamilton Young (December 18, 1792 - c. 1870) was a Scottish-American draughtsman, engraver, and cartographer active in Philadelphia during the first half of the 19th century. Young was born in Avondale, Lanark, Scotland and emigrated to the United States sometime before 1817. Young was a pioneer in American steel plate engraving, a process superior to copper plate engraving due to the increased durability of steel. His earliest known maps date to about 1817, when Young was 25. At the time he was partnered with William Kneass (1780 - 1840), as Kneass, Young and Company, an imprint that was active from 1817 to 1820. He then partnered with with George Delleker, publishing under the imprint of Young and Delleker, active from 1822 to 1823. Young engraved for numerous cartographic publishers in the Philadelphia area, including Anthony Finley, Charles Varle, and Samuel Augustus Mitchell, among others. His most significant work includes maps engraved for Anthony Finley and later Samuel Augustus Mitchell. Mitchell proved to be Young's most significant collaborator. The pair published numerous maps from about 1831 well into the 1860s. Young retired sometime in the mid to late 1860s. In 1840 he registered a patent for an improved system of setting up typography for printing. ˆˆ Learn More...

Anthony Finley (August 25, 1784 - June 9, 1836) was an American book and map publisher based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Finley was born in Philadelphia in 1874. He opened a bookshop and publishing house at the Northeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut Street, Philadelphia in 1809. His earliest known catalog, listing botanical, medical and other scientific works, appeared in 1811. His first maps, engraved for Daniel Edward Clarke’s Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa also appear in 1811. His first atlas, the Atlas Classica, was published in 1818. He soon thereafter published the more significant A New American Atlas and the New General Atlas…, both going through several editions from 1824 to 1834. Although most of Finley's cartographic material was borrowed from European sources, his atlases were much admired and favorably reviewed. In addition to his work as a printer, Finley ran unsuccessfully on the 1818 Democratic ticket for Philadelphia Common Council. He was a founding officer of the Philadelphia Apprentices’ Library, and a member of both the American Sunday-School Union and the Franklin Institute. He was also an ardent supporter of the American Colonization Society, an organization dedication to returning free people of color to Africa - which led to the founding of Liberia. Much of his wealth was dedicated to supporting this cause. Finley was active as a publisher until his 1836 death, apparently of a 'lingering illness.' Shortly thereafter advertisements began appearing for his map business and plates, most of which were acquired by Samuel Augustus Mitchell. Learn More...