1846 Bradford Map of Iowa and Wisconsin
IowaWisconsin-bradford-1846-2$450.00
Title
Iowa and Wisconsin.
1846 (dated) 15 x 12.75 in (38.1 x 32.385 cm) 1 : 1600000
1846 (dated) 15 x 12.75 in (38.1 x 32.385 cm) 1 : 1600000
Description
This is an 1846 Thomas G. Bradford map of Wisconsin and Iowa. It appeared in the year of Iowa's statehood and illustrates an early political configuration predating the development of a road or railroad network.
The Iowa Territory was created by Congress in 1838 and would become the 29th state in 1846, likely a few months after this map was produced. Most of Iowa's land was purchased directly from the Native Americans. Several towns are labeled in the territory, including Iowa City. An inset map in the lower right corner illustrates the western reaches of the Wisconsin and Iowa territories.
The complete absence of roads on this map is noteworthy. One of the reasons this region was quickly developed in the mid-19th century is its plethora of excellent navigable rivers, which proved to be arteries of settlement and trade. Few roads penetrated this region until the second half of the 19th century.
A Closer Look
The map depicts the region from central Iowa to Lake Michigan and from Michigan to Illinois. Issued only ten years after the creation of the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, the map illustrates the region's fast settlement and development, particularly in the vicinity of Detroit, Milwaukee, Madison, and Navarino (Green Bay).The Iowa Territory was created by Congress in 1838 and would become the 29th state in 1846, likely a few months after this map was produced. Most of Iowa's land was purchased directly from the Native Americans. Several towns are labeled in the territory, including Iowa City. An inset map in the lower right corner illustrates the western reaches of the Wisconsin and Iowa territories.
The complete absence of roads on this map is noteworthy. One of the reasons this region was quickly developed in the mid-19th century is its plethora of excellent navigable rivers, which proved to be arteries of settlement and trade. Few roads penetrated this region until the second half of the 19th century.
Publication History and Census
The 1838 copyright on this map corresponds to the first edition - as Bradford did not invest in new copyright registrations despite numerous annual content updates. A note under the bottom border identifies this map as being corrected to 1846. It was engraved by George Washington Boynton and published as plate number 41 in the 1846 large format edition of Bradford and Goodrich's A Universal Illustrated Atlas. Scarce to the market.CartographerS
Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802 - 1887) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as an assistant editor for the Encyclopedia Americana. Bradford's first major cartographic work was his revision and subsequent republishing of an important French geography by Adrian Balbi, Abrege de Geographie published in America as Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Abridgment of Universal Geography, Modern and Ancient. Afterwards Bradford revised and expanded this work into his own important contributions to American cartography, the 1838 An Illustrated Atlas Geographical, Statistical and Historical of the United States and Adjacent Countries. Bradford's cartographic work is significant as among the first to record Texas as an independent nation. In his long career as a map publisher Bradford worked with William Davis Ticknor of Boston, Freeman Hunt of New York, Charles De Silver of Philadelphia, John Hinton, George Washington Boynton, and others. We have been able to discover little of Bradford's personal life. More by this mapmaker...
George Washington Boynton (fl. c. 1830 - 1850) was a Boston based cartographer and map engraver active in the first half of the 19th century. Boynton engraved and compiled maps for numerous publishers including Thomas Bradford, Nathaniel Dearborn, Daniel Adams, and S. G. Goodrich. His most significant work is most likely his engraving of various maps for Bradford's Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States and the Adjacent Countries and Universal Illustrated Atlas. He also engraved for the Boston Almanac. In 1835, Boynton is listed as an employee of the Boston Bewick Company, an engraving, stereotype, and printing concern based at no. 47 Court Street, Boston. Little else is known of his life. Learn More...
Source
Bradford, T. G. and Goodrich, S. G., A Universal Illustrated Atlas, exhibiting a Geographical, Statistical, and Historical view of the World, (Boston: Charles D. Strong) 1846.
The Universal Illustrated Atlas is one of the great American atlases of the first half of the 19th century. The atlas was first published in 1838 under the imprint of Charles D. Strong. It replaced and superseded Bradford's earlier smaller format Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States and the Adjacent Countries. Numerous reissues of the Universal Illustrated Atlas followed until about 1848. Although there are minor variations between the editions, most contain about 50 maps, the majority of which focus on the United States. Bradford's atlases are significant for recording North America during the Republic of Texas Era. In later editions, particularly the 1846 edition, Bradford illustrates the boom in railroad construction, possibly with the idea that his maps would aid travelers in planning journeys by rail. It was compiled by Thomas Gamaliel Bradford and Samuel Griswold Goodrich with most of the plates engraved by George Washington Boynton (fl. c. 1830 - 1850). Other contributors include Thomas Gordon (1778 - 1848), Fielding Lucas Jr. (1781 - 1854), Samuel Edward Stiles (1844 - 1901), Sherman and Smith (fl. c. 1829 - 1855), and Horace Thayer (1811 - c. 1874).
Condition
Very good. Even overall toning. Light foxing. Blank on verso.
References
Rumsey 0089.037 (1838 edition).