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1862 Mitchell Map of California and Great Salt Lake Country
California-mitchell-1862$125.00
Title
County Map of California.
1862 (dated) 13.5 x 10.75 in (34.29 x 27.305 cm) 1 : 3801600
1862 (dated) 13.5 x 10.75 in (34.29 x 27.305 cm) 1 : 3801600
Description
A scarce 1862 S. A. Mitchell map of California with a large inset of Great Salt Lake, Utah, showing the Mormon settlements.
A Closer Look
The map covers the state of California and parts of adjacent Utah at the outset of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). The map shows the proposed routes for the 'Southern Pacific' and 'Central Pacific Railroad', and includes some of California’s first completed rail lines, connecting Sacramento with Placerville and Marysville. The 'San Francisco and San Jose Railroad' connects those cities, both on the general map and on the detail of the Bay Area. The Salt Lake City region illustrates wagon routes both between settlements and the emigrant route across the Rocky Mountains. Topography is indicated with hachures. This is plate no. 41.Publication History and Census
This map was prepared by S. A. Mitchell Jr. for inclusion in the 1862 edition of Mitchell's New General Atlas. This plate remained in publication with amendments until 1867, after which point it was replaced by a new map. Like many American map publishers of this period, Mitchell did not regularly update his copyrights; consequently, this map is dated and copyrighted to 1860: 'Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1860 by S. Augustus Mitchell Jr. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U.S. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.' The 1862 edition of Mitchell's New General Atlas is well represented in institutional collections.Cartographer
Samuel Augustus Mitchell (March 20, 1792 - December 20, 1868) began his map publishing career in the early 1830s. Mitchell was born in Bristol, Connecticut. He relocated to Philadelphia in 1821. Having worked as a school teacher and a geographical writer, Mitchell was frustrated with the low quality and inaccuracy of school texts of the period. His first maps were an attempt to rectify this problem. In the next 20 years Mitchell would become the most prominent American map publisher of the mid-19th century. Mitchell worked with prominent engravers J. H. Young, H. S. Tanner, and H. N. Burroughs before attaining the full copyright on his maps in 1847. In 1849 Mitchell either partnered with or sold his plates to Thomas, Cowperthwait and Company who continued to publish the Mitchell's Universal Atlas. By about 1856 most of the Mitchell plates and copyrights were acquired by Charles Desilver who continued to publish the maps, many with modified borders and color schemes, until Mitchell's son, Samuel Augustus Mitchell Junior, entered the picture. In 1859, S.A. Mitchell Jr. purchased most of the plates back from Desilver and introduced his own floral motif border. From 1860 on, he published his own editions of the New General Atlas. The younger Mitchell became as prominent as his father, publishing maps and atlases until 1887, when most of the copyrights were again sold and the Mitchell firm closed its doors for the final time. More by this mapmaker...
Source
Mitchell, S. A., Mitchell's New General Atlas Containing Maps of the Various Countries of the World, Plans of Cities, Etc., embraced in Forty-Seven Quarto Maps, Forming a series of Seventy-Six Maps and Plans, together with Valuable Statistical Tables, (Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr.) 1862.
Mitchell's New General Atlas was published by Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Jr., the son of the prolific cartographer Samuel Augustus Mitchell. Many of the plates are derived from the his father's Mitchell's Universal Atlas, but not directly. The Mitchell's Universal Atlas was initially sold to Thomas, Cowperthwait, and Company in 1849, and again to Charles Deliver in 1856. It was Deliver who introduced the new vibrant color scheme, abandoning the older Mitchell's Universal Atlas green borders and themes for bright reds, blues, and yellows. Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Jr. acquired the Deliver plates in 1859. He added his own floral motif border, but doubled down on the vibrant color scheme, thus introducing to the American public the most vividly colored American atlas of the 19th century. In 1860, he published the first edition of his New General Atlas and, despite a slump in sales during the American Civil War, attained a level of success to rival his father. Mitchell would continue to publish the New General Atlas until 1887, when the firm formally closed.
Condition
Excellent.
References
Rumsey 0565.027 (1860 edition).