January 2, 2019
Happy New Year! We hope 2019 will be a good one for you and your family.
This month’s featured product is the antique map shown below, which you may have previously seen pictured on our Facebook page. It is from Mitchell’s “Traveller’s Guide Through the United States” from 1839. Now framed, this 18” x 21” hand-colored map was originally a fold out from the 3-1/4” x 5-1/2” volume shown below; if you look closely, you can see some of the fold lines on the framed map. The inset maps depict Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Charleston. Note that we only have the framed map, not the volume it came from.
As background, traveler’s guides like this were very popular in the 19th century, in part stimulated by the national interest in expeditions of Lewis and Clark, Pike and others. They were typically small volumes that could be slipped into a pocket and contained detailed information on the distances of each stage of trips by different forms of transportation. The author, Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1792-1868), was one of the most prolific publishers and editors of geographical manuals, maps and textbooks in the U.S. He employed 250+ artisans and writers. From about 1830, he worked in Philadelphia, where the best cartographic printing houses were, with the intention of improving the aesthetics of geography texts and atlases. Mitchell’s first effort, “A New American Atlas,” was published in 1831, and his maps were among the most popular with sales of his 24 works eventually reaching an annual volume of 400,000. We’ve seen an original volume of the “Traveller’s Guide Through the United States” at a rare book store for $1600, but reproductions are available on Amazon for less than $25.
Please note we plan to be open for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Holiday on the 21st.
Lynne & Bob McCann