1864 Mitchell Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland

PNNJMD-mitchell-1864
$125.00
County Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. - Main View
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1864 Mitchell Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland

PNNJMD-mitchell-1864

$125.00

Title


County Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.
  1860 (dated)     11 x 13.5 in (27.94 x 34.29 cm)

Description


A beautiful example of S. A. Mitchell Jr.'s 1864 map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Detailed to the county level with special attention both political and geographic elements. Notes important river systems, railways, canals, and cities. An inset in the lower left features the city of Philadelphia. An inset in the lower right quadrant features Baltimore, Maryland. One of the most attractive American atlas maps of this region to appear in the mid 19th century. Features the floral border typical of Mitchell maps from the 1860-65 period. Prepared by W. H. Gamble for inclusion as plate no. 21 in the 1864 issue of Mitchell's New General Atlas. Dated and copyrighted, 'Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1860 by S. Augustus Mitchell in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U.S. for 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...

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. Blank on verso.

References


Rumsey 0565.012 (1860 edition). Phillips (Atlases) 831. New York Public Library, Map Division, 1510803.