1846 Bradford Map of Tennessee
Tennessee-bradford-1846-2$300.00
Title
Tennessee.
1846 (dated) 12 x 15.5 in (30.48 x 39.37 cm) 1 : 2000000
1846 (dated) 12 x 15.5 in (30.48 x 39.37 cm) 1 : 2000000
Description
This is an 1846 Thomas G. Bradford map of Tennessee. Coverage embraces Tennessee in full, with significant parts of adjacent Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Proposed Railroads
The map features two early railroad connections: a line between Asheville, North Carolina, and Knoxville, and another between Memphis and la Grange / Sommerville. Both were unrealized. The first, Asheville-Knoxville, was proposed in 1832 to connect Asheville with the Tennessee River, but due to the rigorous mountain terrain, construction was halting at best and ended entirely during the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). The second, Memphis-LaGrange, was a proposed 40-mile route conceived as part of efforts to enhance regional connectivity and promote trade in the fertile agricultural regions of West Tennessee. Construction was never able to gain momentum, and its practical value was ultimately sidelined by the completion of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.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 32 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. Verso repair to margin centerfold separation. Blank on verso.
References
Rumsey 0089.028 (1838 edition)