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1834 S.D.U.K. Map of Florida

Florida2-sduk-1834
$100.00
North America XIV Florida. - Main View
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1834 S.D.U.K. Map of Florida

Florida2-sduk-1834

An amazing map of Florida outlining land occupied by the Seminole Indians a year before the Second Seminole War.

Title


North America XIV Florida.
  1834 (dated)     16 x 13.5 in (40.64 x 34.29 cm)     1 : 1770000

Description


This is an uncommon 1834 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge or S.D.U.K. map of Florida. The map depicts the state of Florida in its entirety with its westernmost portion depicted in an inset in the bottom left corner. Numerous towns and villages are labeled throughout the map, although most of southern Florida is occupied by the Seminoles and the Everglades, and counties are illustrated and labeled. Several Indian villages are also identified, as is the land owned by the Seminole Indians. Rivers, lakes, and other physical features are also noted, and Lake Okeechobee, here identified as Lake Macaco (as it was known in the early 19th century), is depicted to be much smaller than it is.

Within a year of this map being issued, Florida would witness the outbreak of the Second Seminole War, the second of the three conflicts between the Seminole Indians and the United States Army. The Second Seminole War would last until 1842, until the army gave up the fight. It resulted in most of the Seminole being forcibly removed from Florida, although some remain to this day, staunchly entrenched deep in the Everglades.

This map was created for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, engraved by the firm of John and Charles Walker, and published by Baldwin and Cradock on February 1, 1834.

CartographerS


The "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" (1826 - 1848) was a Whiggish organization founded in 1828 at the instigation of idealistic British lord Henry Peter Brougham. The admirable goal of the Society was to distribute useful information via a series of publications to the English working and middle classes. It promoted self-education and the egalitarian sharing of all knowledge. While closely tied to the London University and publishing houses on the order of Baldwin and Cradock, Chapman and Hall, and Charles Knight, the Society failed to achieve its many lofty goals in finally closed its doors in 1848. Most likely the failure of the Society resulted from its publications being too expensive for its intended lower to middle class markets and yet not large and fine enough to appeal to the aristocratic market. Nonetheless, it did manage to publish several extraordinary atlases of impressive detail and sophistication. Their most prominent atlas consisted of some 200 separately issued maps initially published by Baldwin and Cradock and sold by subscription from 1829 to 1844. Afterwards, the Society combined the maps into a single world atlas published under the Chapman and Hall imprint. In its day, this atlas was unprecedented in its quality, scope, and cost effectiveness. Today Society, or S.D.U.K. as it is commonly known, maps are among the most impressive examples of mid-19th century English mass market cartographic publishing available. The S.D.U.K. is especially known for its beautiful and accurately detailed city plans. More by this mapmaker...


John Walker (1787 - April 19, 1873) was a British map seller, engraver, lithographer, hydrographer, geographer, draughtsman, and publisher active in London during the 19th century. Walker published both nautical charts and geographical maps. His nautical work is particularly distinguished as he was an official hydrographer for the British East India Company, a position, incidentally, also held by his father of the same name. Walker's maps, mostly published after 1827, were primarily produced with his brothers Charles Walker and Alexander Walker under the imprint J. and C. Walker. Among their joint projects are more than 200 maps for the influential Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Atlas (SDUK). In addition they published numerous charts for James Horsburgh and the British Admiralty Hydrographic Office, including Belcher's important map of Hong Kong and Carless' exploratory map of Karachi. The J. and C. Walker firm continued to publish after both Walkers died in the 1870s. Learn More...


Baldwin and Cradock (fl. c. 1810 - 1860) were London based publishers working in the early to mid 19th century. They are best known for their publication of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge's ground breaking subscription atlas. They also published John Thomson's magnificent New General Atlas from 1814 - c. 1820. In addition to their cartographic corpus, the firm had wide ranging publishing interests in many other areas, including books, broadsides, and an investment in Blackwoods Magazine. They had their offices at 47 Paternoster Row, London, England. This firm also published under the imprint Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy and Cradock and Joy. Learn More...

Condition


Very good. Even overall toning. Appears that a very small amount of content along the bottom has been lost. Blank on verso.

References


Rumsey 0890.141. Phillips (Atlases) 794.