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1860 Mitchell's Map of California

CA-m-1860
$140.00
County Map of California. - Main View
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1860 Mitchell's Map of California

CA-m-1860


Title


County Map of California.
  1860     11 x 13.5 in (27.94 x 34.29 cm)

Description


This beautiful hand colored map is a lithographic engraving of the states of California and Utah dating to 1860. Map divides the state into counties with notations on both political and geographical features. An inset map entitled 'Map of the Settlements in the Great Salt Lake Country, Utah' is indication of the development of the area by Mormon migrants. Another smaller inset depicts San Francisco Bay and Vicinity. This is a first edition of the series of California map produced by Mitchell Jr. starting in 1860. It is distinguished from later editions by being much brighter and more beautifully rendered. Produced by the legendary American map publisher S. A. Mitchell Jr. Dated and copyrighted '1860 by S. Agustus Mitchell Jr..'

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. Wide clean margins. Blank on verso.