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1832 Young / Carey and Lea Miniature Map of Mexico, Central America
MexicoGuatimala-young-1832$200.00
Title
Mexico and Guatimala.
1832 (undated) 3.5 x 5.5 in (8.89 x 13.97 cm) 1 : 48000000
1832 (undated) 3.5 x 5.5 in (8.89 x 13.97 cm) 1 : 48000000
Description
A masterwork of small-scale engraving, this is J. H. Young's 1832 map of Mexico and Central America, which appeared in Henry Carey and Isaac Lea's Family Cabinet Atlas. It depicts the region in the wake of the collapse of Spain's American empire and on the eve of the westward expansion of the United States of America.
Texas appears as a province of Mexico. At this time, the Mexican government encouraged immigration to Texas despite its inability to prevent conflict with Native Americans, disputes over several issues including slavery, and a failed secession movement in 1826 - 1827. These lingering problems would come to the fore a few years later with the outbreak of the Texas Revolution.
'Guatimala' retains the borders of the defunct Spanish Captaincy General of Guatemala, but a more accurate reflection of the political situation is demonstrated with the numeric labels. Still, uncertainty remained over borders, particularly around Belize ('Bazlie' here), resulting in Belize (City) being located in Mexico, outside of Belize itself.
A Closer Look
Coverage extends from the Pacific Northwest, here as 'New Albion,' south through Panama and east to Haiti. Copious detail is provided on the geography of Mexico and Central America, including the labeling of individual provinces of the United Mexican States, all the more impressive given the map's small scale. Some common cartographic errors of the era, such as the Buenaventura River, are retained. Similarly, 'West Florida' is anachronistically maintained.Texas appears as a province of Mexico. At this time, the Mexican government encouraged immigration to Texas despite its inability to prevent conflict with Native Americans, disputes over several issues including slavery, and a failed secession movement in 1826 - 1827. These lingering problems would come to the fore a few years later with the outbreak of the Texas Revolution.
'Guatimala' retains the borders of the defunct Spanish Captaincy General of Guatemala, but a more accurate reflection of the political situation is demonstrated with the numeric labels. Still, uncertainty remained over borders, particularly around Belize ('Bazlie' here), resulting in Belize (City) being located in Mexico, outside of Belize itself.
Publication History and Census
This map appeared as Plate 90 in the 1832 (first) edition of Henry Carey and Isaac Lea's 1832 Family Cabinet Atlas. Young had engraved maps of this region as far back as 1825, in Grigg's American Atlas, which may explain some of the anachronisms noted above. The present map is not cataloged in the holdings of any institution in the OCLC and is scarce to the market, while the entire atlas (OCLC 276123103, 276123103) is quite rare, only appearing in four institutional collections.CartographerS
James Hamilton Young (December 18, 1792 - c. 1870) was a Scottish-American draughtsman, engraver, and cartographer active in Philadelphia during the first half of the 19th century. Young was born in Avondale, Lanark, Scotland and emigrated to the United States sometime before 1817. Young was a pioneer in American steel plate engraving, a process superior to copper plate engraving due to the increased durability of steel. His earliest known maps date to about 1817, when Young was 25. At the time he was partnered with William Kneass (1780 - 1840), as Kneass, Young and Company, an imprint that was active from 1817 to 1820. He then partnered with with George Delleker, publishing under the imprint of Young and Delleker, active from 1822 to 1823. Young engraved for numerous cartographic publishers in the Philadelphia area, including Anthony Finley, Charles Varle, and Samuel Augustus Mitchell, among others. His most significant work includes maps engraved for Anthony Finley and later Samuel Augustus Mitchell. Mitchell proved to be Young's most significant collaborator. The pair published numerous maps from about 1831 well into the 1860s. Young retired sometime in the mid to late 1860s. In 1840 he registered a patent for an improved system of setting up typography for printing. ˆˆ More by this mapmaker...
Henry Charles Carey (December 15, 1793 - October 13, 1879) was an American economist and publisher. The leading 19th-century economist of the American school of capitalism, Carey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was the son of Mathew Carey (1760 - 1839), who was also an influential political reformer, editor, publisher, and economist. Henry Charles Carey took over the family publishing firm in 1825 after his father retired, and, partnering with his brother-in-law Isaac Lea (1792 - 1886), formed the imprint Carey and Lea. Carey retired from publishing c. 1838 and focused on his career as an economist. He was a prolific writer on the subject and published numerous works on economics between 1835 and 1876. Carey and Lea became one of the most successful publishing houses in America, publishing, among others, American editions of the works of Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper, The Encyclopedia Americana and a dictionary of German lexicon. Learn More...
Isaac Lea (March 4, 1792 - December 8, 1886) was an American publisher, geologist, and conchologist. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Lea was born into a Quaker family. In an uncharacteristic move for a Quaker, Lea gave up the Quaker belief in pacifism, thus losing his claim to being a member of the Society of Friends, and joined the 7th Company of the 24th Pennsylvania Militia to fight in the War of 1812. Little is known about Lea's life after the war. He married Frances Ann Carey (1799 - 1873), the daughter of the successful publisher Mathew Carey (1760 - 1839) on March 8, 1821, with whom he had three children, one of which died in infancy. After Mathew Carey retired from publishing in 1825, Lea partnered with Carey's son Henry Charles Carey (1793 - 1879), and formed the publishing house Carey and Lea. Carey and Lea became one of the most successful publishing houses in America, publishing, among others, American editions of the works of Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper, The Encyclopedia Americana and a dictionary of German lexicon. After Henry Carey retired c. 1838, Lea continued publishing with William A. Blanchard, who had been promoted to partner in the Carey and Lea firm in 1833, under the imprint of Lea and Blanchard. Eventually, Lea's two sons Henry Charles Lea (September 19, 1825 - October 24, 1909) and Mathew Carey Lea (1823 - 1897) took over the publishing firm and changed its hame to Lea Brothers, after Isaac Lea decided to retire to dedicate himself to his scientific pursuits. Lea devoted his scientific study to natural history, with particular interest in freshwater and land mollusks, which he studied for fifty years. Learn More...
Condition
Good. Moderate foxing.