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The item illustrated and described below is sold, but we have another example in stock. To view the example which is currently being offered for sale, click the "View Details" button below.
Description

Nice example of Charles Desilver's map of the region west of the Mississippi River to the west of the Rocky Mountains, the first atlas map published in the United States to focus on this region.

Desilver's mid-continent map is a remarkably unique work for the time period. The map is rich with early immigrant information, Indian details, forts, roads, Indian Treaty notes, early explorers' routes, Indian battlegrounds, Indian Reservations, trading posts, and a host of other excellent notes and features. The map actually has its own symbol for trading posts, a rare appearance on a map of the period.

This map rarely appears on the market, as Desilver's atlas was not as widely distributed as others in the run, and this format appears not to have been included in all additions.

States

The second state of the market can be recognized by the change from the Thomas Cowperthwait style "rope border" which was used from 1850 to early 1856, to Desliver's more decorative (and uncolored) border style, which is reminiscent of the decorative border used by J.H. Colton. It can be distinguished from later states by the lack of Counties in Kansas and Nebraska and the failure to color the counties in Utah and New Mexico.

In 1859 the Colorado gold region is labeled on the map.

Condition Description
Original hand-color by state and territory.