A New Map of Michigan with its Canals, Roads & Distances.
1846 (dated) 15 x 12 in (38.1 x 30.48 cm)
A fine example of the 1846 first edition of Mitchell's map of Michigan. The whole is engraved and colored in Mitchell's distinctive style with green border work and vivid pastels. Political and topographical features are noted and color coded with elevation rendered by hachure. An inset at right center details western Michigan, specifically Ontonagon, Delta, Marquette, and Houghton counties. Along the right border Steam Boat routes with distances are presented in tabular format.
This ephemeral map details the state of Michigan during a period of rapid development. Throughout the 1840s emigration and settlement of the state led to regular changes in the state's configuration as new counties, roads, and railways were added. The present example shows considerable development in the southern tier, especially along the vital railway corridor between Detroit and the ports along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
Mitchell derived this map from an earlier map of Michigan by H. S. Tanner, whose plates he acquired in 1846. engraved by H. N. Burroughs for publication as plate no. 29 in the 1846 first edition of S. A. Mitchell's New Universal Atlas.
Samuel Augustus Mitchell (March 20, 1792 - December 20, 1868) Senior began his map publishing career in the early 1830s. Having worked as a school teacher, 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 teamed up with printer Cowperthwait & Company to produce the Mitchell's Universal Atlas and the Mitchell's General Atlas. In the late 1850s most of the Mitchell copyrights were bought by Desilver and Co. who continued to publish his maps, many with modified borders and color schemes, until Mitchell's son, Samuel Augustus Mitchell Junior, entered the picture. S.A. Mitchell Jr. purchased most of the copyrights back from Desilver and, from 1860 on, published his own New General Atlas. The younger Mitchell became as prominent as his father and published atlases well into the late 1880s when most of the copyrights were again sold and the Mitchell firm closed its doors for the final time.
H. N. Burroughs (fl. c. 1835 - c. 1860) was an engraver based in Pennsylvania and active in the early 19th century. Burroughs is an extremely elusive figure who work appears almost exclusively in conjunction with that of Henry Schenk Tanner and Samuel Augustus Mitchell (the elder). His name appears on the 1846 copyrights of many of Mitchell's earliest and most important atlas and pocket maps. Following 1846, Burroughs seems to have retired from cartography or changed careers. There are records of one H. N. Burroughs who owned a Pennsylvania coal mining company, and another who was president of a New York Bank. Whether or not these are the same individual is unknown.
Mitchell, S. A., A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics Of The World, (Thomas Cowperthwait & Co., Philadelphia) 1846.
Very good condition. Blank on verso. Even overall age toning.