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1853 Mitchell Map of China

China-mitchell-1850
$75.00
China. - Main View
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1853 Mitchell Map of China

China-mitchell-1850


Title


China.
  1850 (dated)     11.5 x 14.5 in (29.21 x 36.83 cm)

Description


An extremely attractive example of S. A. Mitchell Sr.'s 1853 map of China. Covers from Chinese Tartary south to Hainan and east to Korea and Formosa. Chinese provinces are color coded and numbered. Surrounded by the green border common to Mitchell maps from the 1850s. Prepared by S. A. Mitchell for issued as plate no. 70 in the 1853 edition of his New Universal 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...

Source


A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics Of The World. (1853 issue)    

Condition


Very good condition. Overall toning and minor offsetting. Blank on verso.

References


Rumsey 0537.068 (1846 edition). Phillips (Atlases) 6103-67.