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1827 Map of New Mexico and the Colorado Territory
NewMexico-vandermaelen-1827$400.00
Title
Parties des Etats-Unis et du Nouveau Mexique. Amer. Sep. no. 48.
1827 (dated 1825) 18.5 x 22 in (46.99 x 55.88 cm) 1 : 1641836
1827 (dated 1825) 18.5 x 22 in (46.99 x 55.88 cm) 1 : 1641836
Description
This is 1827 Vandermaelen map of the American-Mexican frontier of the Missouri Territory, shown during a period of active exploration. It was the largest-scale map of this region produced to date - 'no mapmaker had previously attempted to use such a large scale for any western American area.' (Wheat). Like all of the maps from Vandermaelen's Atlas, it is the also the first map of the region executed in lithograph.
On the Map
The map shows what would become Colorado, New Mexico and Nebraska. Santa Fe is shown along with neighboring villages, including Taos. Castle Rock in Colorado is shown, near Bell's Springs (now occupied by Bell's Springs.) The map includes tribal routes, cities and settlements, and notes the region that would eventually become Yellowstone Park. New Mexique, it should be noted, refers to the region under Mexican government: the northern part of the map shows part of the Missouri Territory, in particular the areas that would become Nebraska and Colorado. The map captures the region in its frontier period - many Native American tribes are shown with their populations noted. There are some notes pertaining to the Pike expedition, and a very full treatment of the 1820 expedition of Stephen Harriman Long.The Long Expedition
The track of Long's 1820 expedition up the Platte River to the Rocky mountains is shown on the map, which - though not the first to show the journey - is the best-focused cartographic document of it. Due to the large scale afforded by this map, the expedition's track is shown in comparable, or even greater detail than Long's own (much smaller) map published with his report in 1823, including many descriptive texts reporting the geology of the land as well as the populations and disposition of the Native American tribes encountered.Publication History
This map appeared in the fourth part, 'Quatrième partie, Amér. sept.' of Vandermaelen's Atlas universel de géographie physique, politique, statistique et minéralogique. The atlas was produced in one edition in 1827; only 810 complete sets were sold. The full set of six volumes appears in eleven institutional collections in OCLC; the 4th volume alone is listed in 9. This map is listed as a separate only in the Clements Library, New Mexico State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.Cartographer
Philippe Marie Guillaume Vandermaelen (December 23, 1795 - May 29, 1869) was a Flemish cartographer active in Brussels during the first part of the 19th century. Vandermaelen is created with "one of the most remarkable developments of private enterprise in cartography," namely his remarkable six volume Atlas Universel de Geographie. Vandermaelen was born in Brussels in 1795 and trained as a globe maker. It was no doubt his training as a globe maker that led him see the need for an atlas rendered on a universal scale in order that all bodies could be understood in relation to one another. In addition to his great work Vandermaelen also produced a number of globes, lesser maps, a highly detailed 250 sheet map of Belgium, and several regional atlases. More by this mapmaker...
Source
Vandeermaelen, P. Atlas universel de geographie physique, politique, statistique et mineralogique (Bruxelles, Vandermaelen) 1827.
Atlas Universel de Geographie. This great work, featuring some 378 unique maps and compiled over three years, was the first lithograph atlas, and the first to render the world on the same projection and at a uniform scale. It was no doubt Vandermaelen’s training a globe maker that led him see the need for an atlas rendered uniformly so that all bodies could be understood in relation to one another. As a result, many newly emerging areas received more attention than prior efforts. Maps of the American West, in particular, benefited: ‘no mapmaker had previously attempted to use such a large scale for any western American area.’ (Wheat). Central and South Asia also appear in sharper focus. Despite Vandermaelen’s reliance upon existing sources, his maps very frequently provided the clearest depictions available of many poorly-understood parts of the world. The atlas was an expensive production, costing $800 in 1827. Subscription lists indicate that only 810 full sets of the atlas were sold. It was printed on high-quality paper with superior hand coloring and was engraved in a clear, legible style. Conjoined, the maps of Vendermaelen's atlas would create a massive globe some 7.75 meters in diameter, a feat which was accomplished at the Etablissement Geographique de Brussels.
Condition
Fine condition.
References
Rumsey 2212.000. OCLC 78320444. Wheat, C.I. Mapping the transmississippi West, 378; Streeter, T.W. Bibliography of Texas 1795-1845, 1095. Phillips, 749. Koeman Vdm 1. National Maritime Museum, 179. Wellens-De Donder, L. Philippe Vandermaelen 1795-1869, 4-5.