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1846 Bradford Map of Michigan
Michigan-bradford-1846-2$400.00
Title
Michigan.
1846 (dated) 15 x 12 in (38.1 x 30.48 cm) 1 : 1600000
1846 (dated) 15 x 12 in (38.1 x 30.48 cm) 1 : 1600000
Description
This is an 1846 Thomas G. Bradford map of Michigan. It illustrates the state's first railroad and the proposed Ionia and Saginaw Canal.
A Closer Look
Coverage embraces the southern part of Michigan, from Lake Superior, Green Bay, and Wisconsin to Lake Huron and from Lake Superior to Indiana and Lake Erie. Significantly updated from the 1838 edition created eight years earlier, here, the Lower Peninsula is entirely divided into counties. In contrast, in 1838, the northern half of the peninsula was illustrated as being one large county, just as the Upper Peninsula is here. An inset map entitled 'Northwest Part of Michigan' is situated in the upper right corner and depicts the western part of the Upper Peninsula and northeastern Wisconsin.Michigan Central Railroad
The Michigan Central Railroad, incorporated in 1846, is illustrated. Originally chartered in 1831 as the Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad, the organization quickly faced financial difficulties. The state government bailed out the railroad in 1837, renaming it the Central Railroad of Michigan. The state then sold the railroad to the newly incorporated Michigan Central corporation in 1846, which operated the railroad independently until 1867, when it was acquired by the New York Central Railroad.Ionia and Saginaw Canal
The Ionia and Saginaw Canal was a proposed 19th-century project to connect the Grand River near Ionia, Michigan, with the Saginaw River at Saginaw, creating a navigable waterway across the state. Aimed at boosting Michigan's economy by facilitating the transport of lumber and agricultural goods to Great Lakes markets, the canal reflected the canal-building boom inspired by successes like the Erie Canal. However, the project faced significant challenges, including the difficult terrain of central Michigan and the rising dominance of railroads, which offered faster and more efficient transportation. These factors ultimately led to the canal's abandonment as Michigan's infrastructure development shifted toward rail networks.Publication History and Census
The 1838 copyright on this map corresponds to the first edition - as Bradford did not invest in new copyright registrations despite numerous annual content updates. A note under the bottom border identifies this map as being corrected to 1846. It was engraved by George Washington Boynton and published as plate number 25 in the 1846 large format edition of Bradford and Goodrich's A Universal Illustrated Atlas. Scarce to the market.CartographerS
Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802 - 1887) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as an assistant editor for the Encyclopedia Americana. Bradford's first major cartographic work was his revision and subsequent republishing of an important French geography by Adrian Balbi, Abrege de Geographie published in America as Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Abridgment of Universal Geography, Modern and Ancient. Afterwards Bradford revised and expanded this work into his own important contributions to American cartography, the 1838 An Illustrated Atlas Geographical, Statistical and Historical of the United States and Adjacent Countries. Bradford's cartographic work is significant as among the first to record Texas as an independent nation. In his long career as a map publisher Bradford worked with William Davis Ticknor of Boston, Freeman Hunt of New York, Charles De Silver of Philadelphia, John Hinton, George Washington Boynton, and others. We have been able to discover little of Bradford's personal life. More by this mapmaker...
George Washington Boynton (fl. c. 1830 - 1850) was a Boston based cartographer and map engraver active in the first half of the 19th century. Boynton engraved and compiled maps for numerous publishers including Thomas Bradford, Nathaniel Dearborn, Daniel Adams, and S. G. Goodrich. His most significant work is most likely his engraving of various maps for Bradford's Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States and the Adjacent Countries and Universal Illustrated Atlas. He also engraved for the Boston Almanac. In 1835, Boynton is listed as an employee of the Boston Bewick Company, an engraving, stereotype, and printing concern based at no. 47 Court Street, Boston. Little else is known of his life. Learn More...
Source
Bradford, T. G. and Goodrich, S. G., A Universal Illustrated Atlas, exhibiting a Geographical, Statistical, and Historical view of the World, (Boston: Charles D. Strong) 1846.
The Universal Illustrated Atlas is one of the great American atlases of the first half of the 19th century. The atlas was first published in 1838 under the imprint of Charles D. Strong. It replaced and superseded Bradford's earlier smaller format Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States and the Adjacent Countries. Numerous reissues of the Universal Illustrated Atlas followed until about 1848. Although there are minor variations between the editions, most contain about 50 maps, the majority of which focus on the United States. Bradford's atlases are significant for recording North America during the Republic of Texas Era. In later editions, particularly the 1846 edition, Bradford illustrates the boom in railroad construction, possibly with the idea that his maps would aid travelers in planning journeys by rail. It was compiled by Thomas Gamaliel Bradford and Samuel Griswold Goodrich with most of the plates engraved by George Washington Boynton (fl. c. 1830 - 1850). Other contributors include Thomas Gordon (1778 - 1848), Fielding Lucas Jr. (1781 - 1854), Samuel Edward Stiles (1844 - 1901), Sherman and Smith (fl. c. 1829 - 1855), and Horace Thayer (1811 - c. 1874).
Condition
Very good. Even overall toning. Blank on verso.
References
Rumsey 0089.021 (1838 edition).