Glorious example of Colton’s wall map of the United States. Including Central America down to Costa Rica, Mexico, the West Indies and Canada. Folding map.

The title of this map is generic to the celebrated series of wall maps of the United States issued by the firm of J.H. Colton in different sizes between 1846 and 1884. This series is an invaluable tool in tracing the natural, political, economic and ethnological development of the country, with particular emphasis to the American West. Thanks to cartographic scholars, a great deal of work has been done in tracing the multiple editions and developments on this map; this has resulted in references to specific editions, with not only revisions and updates to the geographical details but also presence or absence of large vignettes, changes to the style of decorative borders and inclusion or absence of insets. The title, whilst generally retaining its wording also changes placement on several occasions.

The 1853 edition of this map is probably the largest version published. It shows the country during a period of great change, just after the end of the Mexican-American War and with several enormous parts of the American West still undefined. A huge Nebraska Territory sprawls across much of the interior north west region while the old Northwest Territory is marked across much of what is now North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The vast Territory of Utah incorporates Nevada with parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The Indian Territory bears a very strange configuration which seems to be based on a combination of Indian treaties finalized in the 1820s and 30s and Washington Hood’s map of the region from the same period.

Much of this would change after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 which created, changed and settled many of the boundaries of that region to substantially the same borders as today. This 1853 wall map is one of the last to record these old border configurations.

Aesthetically, this edition of the map lacks the decorative cartouche bearing an American eagle present on the slightly smaller version issued in 1854, but it does have multiple vignettes in the interior illustrating a buffalo hunt, a wagon train, wildlife and canoeing among other subjects. It also marks many of the great western trails, such as the Fillmore Trail and the Oregon Trail.

As was usual with Colton, there were several further editions this map. This 1853 edition seems to be the first while there were further issues in 1854, 1855 and 1856, all of which have been updated, all of which have been updated to record geo-political developments such as the Gadsden Treaty with Mexico, addition of Kansas Territory and the adjustment of the borders of the Indian Territory.

Finally, a note must be made on the format of this example. This map was usually sold with wooden rollers and varnished, leading to a degradation of the varnish over time which in turn led to degradation of the face of the map. This example is laid down on its original linen, folded and is in particularly fine condition with no staining or browning. Original colour. [USA9779]