1845 Ensign Map of the United States (Texas as a Republic)

Map of the United States just prior to the Mexican American War. Shows the Republic of Texas.

An extremely scarce variant on Ensign and Thayer's series of highly decorative United States wall maps. This map, dated 1845, predates the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War by one year. It illustrates the Republic of Texas according to its early proclaimed borders, names Austin's colony, and identifies Austin as the capital. In addition, the map features a large Missouri Territory. Small mountains and rivers charts on the Bulla / Darton model appear in the upper left quadrant. The bottom of the map features a large panorama of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence as well as various scenes from American History. To either side are illustrations of Metacom, the Pokunoket Sachem called 'King Philip' and James Polk, who had just been elected 11th president of the United Sates. Portraits of other former presidents fan out on either side of the panorama.

Census and Publication History

Phelps and Ensign first issued a map of this title in 1839 and terminated it at the Mississippi. The present example, presaging the Mexican American War and Texas Annexation, is dramatically expanded to include the Rocky Mountains and additional illustrations. Various editions were issued in 1840, 1841, and, as above 1845, when Thayer's imprint replaced that of Phelps. Additional publications with major revisions continued until about 1859. The entire series, one of the most decorative in the history of early American map publishing, follows the course of the Westward Expansion and the Mexican American War, and as such is of the utmost value to collectors and historians. While maps from this series do come to market from time to time, the individual states, especially Republic of Texas and Mexican-American War editions, are exceedingly uncommon and poorly represented even in institutional collections.

Cartographers

Edward Hooker Ensign (August 18, 1818 - July 10, 1871) was an American map, book, and print publisher based in New York City in the mid-19th century. Born in West Hartland, Connecticut in 1818, he was established in the New York publishing trade by 1839. His career developed through a succession of partnerships associated with travelers' guides, pocket maps, decorative wall maps, and historical prints. During the 1840s, he worked with Timothy Ensign under the imprint T. and E. H. Ensign and participated in the publishing enterprise Phelps, Ensigns and Thayer, whose partners included Humphrey Phelps (1799 - 1875) and Horace Thayer (b. 1811). Surviving publications demonstrate that these imprints overlapped rather than forming a simple chronological succession: an 1845 Phelps and Ensign guide, for example, accompanied a map bearing the T. and E. H. Ensign imprint. In 1851, Ensign and Thayer's travelers' guide to the western states advertised publishing addresses in both New York City and Buffalo. During the 1850s, Ensign became associated with Ensign, Bridgman and Fanning, whose partners included Thomas Coit Fanning (b. 1805). The 1857 New York directory lists both Edward H. Ensign and this firm as map dealers at 156 William Street. Its publications included state and railroad maps, illustrated geographical broadsides, and guides to western travel. At the beginning of the Civil War, the firm issued Our Nation's Camp Ground, combining maps of the mid-Atlantic region and Washington with explicitly pro-Union imagery. His various imprints include 'Phelps and Ensign' (1841-1844), 'T. and E. H. Ensign' (1844 - 1848), 'Ensign and Thayer' (1849), 'Ensign, Thayer, and Company' (1850 - 1851), 'Horace Thayer and Company' (1852), and 'Ensign, Bridgman and Fanning' (1854 - 1863).   Further Details...

Horace Thayer (June 29, 1811 - March 15, 1875) was an American map publisher and lithographer active in New York City, Buffalo, and Warsaw, New York, during the middle of the 19th century. Born in Hartwick, New York, he married Harriet Margaret Dodge (1814 - 1870) on February 20, 1833. He moved from Warsaw to New York City in 1845 and entered a short-lived association with the Kellogg lithographers, publishing as Kelloggs and Thayer in 1846 - 1847. His cartographic business specialized in travel guides, wall maps, and pocket maps, often drawing upon existing cartographic compilations. During the 1840s and early 1850s he worked with Timothy Ensign (1795 - 1849) and Edward Hooker Ensign (1818 - 1871), whose changing partnerships produced the imprints Ensigns and Thayer, Ensign and Thayer, and Ensign, Thayer, and Company. He subsequently published as Horace Thayer and Company. His business combined map publishing with the manufacture of map rollers, the wooden fittings used to mount wall maps. He returned to Warsaw in the 1850s to establish a map-roller manufactory while continuing his connections with New York publishing. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, he collaborated with George Woolworth Colton (1827 - 1901), son of Joseph Hutchins Colton (1800 - 1893); their publications included maps bearing the Thayer and Colton imprint. His various imprints included Kelloggs and Thayer (1846 - 1847), Ensigns and Thayer (1848), Ensign and Thayer (1849 - 1850), and Ensign, Thayer, and Company (1850 - 1851), Phelps and Watson (1859), and Thayer and Colton (1859-186?). Thayer's New York business addresses included 50 Ann Street and 18 Beekman Street, the latter appearing on his 1861 village map of Warsaw. He also invested in Warsaw real estate, purchasing farmland in 1853 and a house in 1864, and later operated a map-roller establishment in nearby Johnsonburg. Following his first wife's death, he married Mary O. Tuttle on June 19, 1872. Thayer drowned in Tonawanda Creek on March 15, 1875.   Further Details...

Condition

Good condition. Few surface mends with virtually no loss. Mounted on linen and fully stabilized.

References

OCLC 777624706.