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1838 Bradford Map of Missouri
Missouri-bradford-1838$150.00
Title
Missouri.
1838 (dated) 12 x 14.5 in (30.48 x 36.83 cm) 1 : 1800000
1838 (dated) 12 x 14.5 in (30.48 x 36.83 cm) 1 : 1800000
Description
This is an 1838 Thomas G. Bradford map of Missouri. The map illustrates Missouri in the midst of massive growth and expansion, as well as during a period of significant internal turmoil relating to the 1838 Mormon War and ongoing repercussions of its admission to the Union, nearly 20 years earlier, as a Slave State.
Historical Context
This map was issued shortly before the 1838 Mormon War, an event that, in some ways, presaged the American Civil War. Although a slave state, Missouri's massive Mormon population, mostly centered around Independence in Jackson County, was virulently abolitionist. A stance that led to increased tensions, violent clashes, and political turmoil. Shortly after this map was issued, pro-slavery elements, backed by the Missouri Militia, expelled the Mormons from Missouri, forcing them to migrate to Utah, where they became an major force in the settlement of the American West.Publication History and Census
This map was engraved by George Boynton in 1838 and published in the 1841 edition of Bradford and Goodrich's A Universal Illustrated Atlas. The map received regular updates through the late 1840s.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) 1841.
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.
References
Rumsey 4453.038.