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1864 Johnson's World Mountains and Rivers Map or Chart

MountainsRivers-johnson-1864
$100.00
Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of Africa. Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of Asia.  Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of Europe.  Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of South America.  Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of North America. - Main View
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1864 Johnson's World Mountains and Rivers Map or Chart

MountainsRivers-johnson-1864

A significant reimagining and re-engraving of Johnson's Comparative Mountains and Rivers Chart.

Title


Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of Africa. Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of Asia. Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of Europe. Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of South America. Johnson's Chart of Comparative Heights of Mountains, and Lengths of Rivers of North America.
  1864 (dated)     23.5 x 17.5 in (59.69 x 44.45 cm)

Description


This is the 1864 edition of Johnson's Mountains and Rivers Chart. This chart, printed in 1864, represents a significant reimagining and re-engraving of Johnson's pre-1864 mountains and rivers charts. Johnson first introduced a mountains and rivers chart in the second edition of his atlas, published in 1861. That chart, based on a related 1855 chart engraved by J. H. Colton, was very similar to other topical charts common in European atlases of the period in that it presented all of the great mountains and rivers of the world in a single panoramic view. Johnson, perhaps recognizing that the traditional chart, which necessarily highlighted the primacy of the great mountains and rivers of Asia, was difficult to read with regard to the regions that interested his constituent readers - North Americans and Europeans. Thus Johnson re-engraved his chart, taking the bold step of dividing the world's great mountains and rivers by continent. This curious move made the map more accessible on a continental level. Johnson's 1864 mountains and rivers chart can also be read from a political perspective, for by dividing the mountains according to continents, each continent's mountains appear equally great. While Johnson is not the first to focus his mountains and rivers chart on particular continent, this is the first example we are aware of that consolidate the mountains and rivers all of the continents, each represented individually, on a single chart.

The chart is ordered roughly alphabetically in five sections, with Africa at the top, followed by Asia, Europe, South America and North America. Curiously Johnson chooses to place North America below South America - a clear break his is alphabetical sequence. This unusual move is possibly in deference to the perceived greater importance of North America relative to its southerly cousin. In the Africa section, Kilimanjaro is identified as the highest mountain, and the Nile its longest river. This chart also includes the Great Pyramid. In the Asia second, Everest, at 29,000 feet is recognized as the highest mountain and the Yangtze as the longest river. In the Europe section, the highest mountain is Mont Blanc and the Volga is recognized as the longest River. IN South America, Tupungato (Tupungata), at 22, 450 feet is identified as the highest mountain (Aconcagua is a sad no. 2) and the Amazon is the greatest River. North America, still not fully explored when this map was published lists Mt. St. Elias, of the Canadian Yukon, as the highest mountain, followed by the Popocatepetl and Orizaba volcanoes of Mexico. This is in fact somewhat reversed from actuality, with Orizaba being the highest at 18,504 feet, followed by Elias at 18,009 feet, and Popocatepetl at 17,930. At this time, neither Mount McKinley (Denali) nor Mount Logan, the true highest peaks of North America, had been measured. Even so, Johnson does correctly recognized the Mississippi as the continent's longest river.

Published by A. J. Johnson as plate nos. 2-3 for issue in the 1864 edition of Johnson's Family Atlas. Dated an copyrighted, 1864.

Cartographer


Alvin Jewett Johnson (September 23, 1827 - April 22, 1884) was a prolific American map publisher active from 1856 to the mid-1880s. Johnson was born into a poor family in Wallingford, Vermont where he received only a based public education. He is known to have worked as school teacher for several years before moving to Richmond, Virginia. Johnson got his first taste of the map business and a salesman and book canvasser for J. H. Colton and company. The earliest Johnson maps were published with D. Griffing Johnson (no clear relation) and date to the mid-1850s, however it was not until 1860 that the Johnson firm published its first significant work, the Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas. The publication of the Family Atlas followed a somewhat mysterious 1859 deal with the well-established but financially strapped J. H. Colton cartographic publishing firm. Although map historian Water Ristow speculates that Colton sold his copyrights to Johnson and his business partner, another Vermonter named Ross C. Browning (1822 - 1899), a more likely theory is that Johnson and Browning financially supported the Colton firm in exchange for the right to use Colton's existing copyrighted map plates. Regardless of which scenario actually occurred it is indisputable that the first Johnson atlas maps were mostly reissues of earlier Colton maps. Early on Johnson described his firm as the 'Successors to J. H. Colton and Company'. Johnson's business strategy involved transferring the original Colton steel plate engravings to cheaper lithographic stones, allowing his firm to produce more maps at a lower price point. In 1861, following the outbreak of the American Civil War the Johnson and Browning split their firm between two offices. Johnson moved from Richmond, Virginia to New York City. Browning remained in Richmond, where he published at least one more edition of the atlas after the war began, in 1862. Johnson and Browning published two editions of the Johnson Atlas: 1860 (Richmond and New York) and 1861 (Richmond and New York). Sometime in 1861 Browning's portion of the firm (or perhaps the New York portion?) was purchased by Benjamin P. Ward, whose name subsequently replaced Browning's on the imprint. The 1863 issue of the Family Atlas was one of the most unusual, it being a compilation of older 'Johnson and Browning' maps, and updated 1862 'Johnson and Ward' maps, and newer 1863 maps with a revised border design. The 1864 issue of the Family Atlas is the first fully 'Johnson and Ward' atlas. Johnson published one more edition of the atlas in partnership with Ward in 1865, after which Johnson seems to have bought out Ward's share the firm. The next issue of the atlas, 1866, is the first purely 'Johnson' atlas with all new map plates, updated imprints, and copyrights. The Family Atlas went through roughly 27 years of publication, from 1860 to 1887, outliving Johnson himself who died in 1884. Johnson maps from the Family Atlas are notable for their unique borders, of which there are four different designs, the 'strapwork border' from 1860 to 1863, the 'fretwork border' from 1863 to 1869 and the 'spirograph border' in 1870 – 1882, and a more elaborate version of the same from 1880 - 1887. In addition to the Family Atlas Johnson issued numerous wall maps, pocket maps, and in the 1880s the Cyclopedia. Johnson maps are known for their size, accuracy, detail, and stunning, vivid hand coloring. Johnson maps, purely American in their style and execution, chronicle some of the most important and periods in American history including the Civil War, the Westward Expansion, and the Indian Wars. Today Johnson's maps, especially those of the American west, are highly sought after by map collectors and historians. More by this mapmaker...

Source


Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas, (1864 edition).     404 Not Found

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Condition


Very good. Typical wear and verso repair along original centerfold. Edge wear with verso reinforcements. Water stains near top and bottom.

References


Rumsey, 0535.005.