MITCHELL, Samuel Augustus (1792-1868)

A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics of the World. With a special map of each of the United States, Plans of Cities &c.

Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1846. Folio. (17 3/8 x 13 7/8 inches). Engraved title with large vignette, letterpress Table of contents, hand-coloured frontispiece of the heights of the principal mountains and lengths of the principal rivers, 71 hand-coloured maps, many with insets [complete].

Period half dark red morocco over marbled paper covered boards

Mitchell's first issue of Tanner's New Universal Atlas, with hand-coloured maps of all the individual States and Territories, including Texas.

S. Augustus Mitchell and his sons were the leading publishers of maps in the United States during most of the nineteenth century. Mitchell had come to Philadelphia around 1830 with the intention of improving the standard of geography textbooks, Philadelphia then being the leading city in America for cartographical publications. A New American Atlas, published in 1831, was his first work. In 1845 he acquired the rights to Tanner's New Universal Atlas (first published in 1836), and in 1846 he published his first edition of the present work. Mitchell continued to publish the Atlas until 1850, when he sold the copyright to Cowperthwait & Co. of Philadelphia. Thomas, Cowperthwait & Company published it until the mid-1850s, when it was purchased by Charles De Silver. The Cowperthwait company continued to add, edit, alter and hand-colour the maps. This is the first Mitchell edition of Henry Tanner's A New Universal Atlas. Despite its title, the Atlas concentrates to a marked degree on the American continent with 42 maps and plans of the area, including three city plans of New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Including the insets, the atlas contains 117 maps.

Phillips Atlases 6103; Ristow pp. 311-313.

Item #28386

Price: $5,250.00