FINLEY, Anthony (c.1790-1840) (publisher)

A New General Atlas, comprising a complete set of maps, representing the grand divisions of the globe... compiled from the best authorities, and corrected by the most recent discoveries

Philadelphia: Anthony Finley, 1825. Imperial quarto. (13 3/8 x 10 5/16 inches). Engraved throughout: title, index leaf, 58 hand-coloured, two hand-coloured engraved comparative charts of mountains and rivers.

Expertly bound to style in red straight-grained half morocco, incorporating original marbled paper-covered boards, original green-toned engraved title label on upper cover, the flat spine gilt in five compartments, divided by horizontal fillets, lettered in gilt in the second compartment

A fine copy of the second edition of this important atlas, from one of the greatest American map publishers of the period.

A contemporary review of the first edition applies equally to the present second: "The number of elegant maps and atlases which have come from the press within a short time in the United States, is a most flattering proof of increased attention of the community to the important study of geography. The present work contains sixty maps, about half of which are devoted to the American continent, and the remainder to other parts of the world, chiefly to Europe. The engraving is done almost uniformly with remarkable distinctness and the face of the maps is frequently beautiful, not overloaded with a confusion of useless names" (North American Review, July 1824, pp.261-262). Little is known of Anthony Finley, other than his published work 'but he was probably born around 1790. Judging from contributors to his atlases, he apparently moved in the same Philadelphia circles of engravers and compilers as other contemporary publishers' (Ristow, p.268). This edition of Finley's celebrated atlas is quite rare. Not on OCLC.

Cf. Phillips Atlases 4314 (another ed); cf. Ristow, p.268; cf. Rumsey, p.109 (another ed).

Item #14356

Price: $6,000.00