Auction 10, Cartography
(Globes, Atlases, & Maps)

Items 276-300

276. [MAP]. WILLIAMS, J. David. Map of Texas. Boston & Chicago, [1873]. Engraved map, original full and outline color. 44 x 31.6 cm (17-3/8 x 12-1/2 inches). Scale: 1 inch = approximately 55 miles. Inset map at lower left: Western Part of Texas. Small chip and a few repairs to blank margins.
        Phillips, Atlases 869. Plate 15 from the People's Pictorial Atlas.
($75-150)

1874

277. [BOOK]. MORPHIS, J. M. History of Texas, from Its Discovery and Settlement with a Description of Its Principal Cities and Counties, and the Agricultural, Mineral, and Material Resources of the State. New York: United States Pub. Co., 1874. 591 [1] [8, ads] pp., engraved frontispiece of Alamo, plates, portraits, map on onionskin paper, original full coloring: New Map of the State of Texas as It Is 1874. Prepared Expressly for Morphis' History of Texas...G. W. & C. B. Colton 1874 (48 x 66 cm; 18-7/8 x 26 inches; scale: 1 inch = approximately 32 miles; ornate vine border; insets of Panhandle, Matagorda Bay, Texas in 1835, Galveston Bay, and Sabine Lake). 8vo, original dark brown cloth with gilt seal of Texas on upper cover. Binding lightly shelf worn, upper hinge weak. Old ink ownership stamp on front endpaper. Except for a few small splits at fold junctures, map in excellent condition.
        First edition. Day, p. 91 (citing the 1875 issue of the map): "Shows counties, towns, roads, rivers, creeks, lakes, mountains, Young Territory, railroads, forts, camps, academies in Indian Territory, few wells and water holes, parts of Indian Territory, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mexico, and New Mexico." Howes M817. Phillips, America, p. 847. Raines, p. 153 (citing only the second edition): "Many valuable official documents and reports." One of the more difficult nineteenth-century books to obtain in collector's condition and with the Colton map.
($400-800)

278. [MAP]. SWEET, George H. The Texas Journal of Commerce's Travelers' and Immigrant's Guide or Railroad Map of Texas. [Galveston or New York], 1874/1880. Engraved map. 54.3 x 78.8 cm (21-1/2 x 31 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 40 miles. Insets: Untitled map showing route of International R.R. Cairo & Fulton R.R.; Proposed Lines of the International R.R. of Mexico; Ho for Texas [complex engraving of bird's-eye view of the U.S. with train and symbols for industry and improvement, Texas at center]. Extensive text at right setting out all the roads, lines, and stations in Texas. Friable paper split at folds, a few minor losses.
        A spirited commercial production put out for the Texas Journal of Commerce. Encinal County adjoins Webb, which never existed; El Paso, Presidio, and Pecos counties are vast.
($250-500)

1875

279. [MAP]. GRAY, Frank A. Map of the United States Showing Acquisition and Transfer of Territory from 1776 to the Present Time. Philadelphia: O. W. Gray & Son, 1875. Engraved map, original full and outline color. 16.7 x 30.2 cm (6-3/8 x 11-7/8 inches). Inset maps: Alaska Territorial District (lower left); [Boston Corner, Western Massachusetts] (center right); and [Narragansett Bay] (center right). The primary map of five maps on a single sheet with the headline: Gray's Historical Maps of the United States. Fine.
        A bright pink Texas with red outline stands out on the map. Outline coloring also shows the 1850 Texas cession of its northwest territory to the United States. The remaining maps, above and below the main map, are: (1) Location of the Principal Battle-Fields of the Revolutionary War; (2) An Accurate Map of the United States of America According to the Treaty of Peace 1783; (3) Map of the United States with Political Divisions of 1815; and (4) Map of the United States with the Political Divisions of 1850.
($100-200)

280. [MAP]. GRAY, Frank A. Gray's New Map of Texas and the Indian Territory. [Philadelphia]: O. W. Gray & Son, 1875. Engraved map, original full and outline coloring. 59.2 x 39.2 cm (23-1/4 x 15-3/8 inches). Scale: 1 inch = approximately 40 miles. Three inset maps at lower edge: (1) Western Part of Texas; (2) Austin; and (3) Galveston. Fine.
        Large double-page map printed in a vertical format with bright red outline coloring of the state. Plate numbers 84 and 85 at upper and lower corners of right margin.
($150-300)

281. [MAP]. MISSOURI, KANSAS & TEXAS RAILWAY. Map Showing the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railway, and Principal Connections. Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1875. Engraved map, original color. 25.2 x 29 cm (9-7/8 x 11-3/8 inches). Scale not stated. Bordered on the sides with advertising. The map is on the center sheet in the M. K. & T.'s promotional magazine The Great Southwest, Vol. III, No. 1 (June 1875). 20 pp. 4to, original wrappers. The map fine, the magazine with coffee stains.
        A good railroad map with bold M. K. & T. lines connecting Denison, Texas, to Hannibal, Missouri. Primary connecting lines are less bold, and the routes become more tenuous as one gets further from the M. K. & T. main line. On page 9, immediately preceding the map, is an advertising article from Walker & Kershaw, Texas Land Agency promoting "Choice Texas Lands at 35 Cents per Acre." Page 12 prints the railroad's timetable and lists the principal connecting lines. Filled with interesting advertising and travel-related and humorous articles for idle time reading, the monthly magazine was circulated free through M. K. & T. passenger and ticket agents.
($60-120)

1876

282. [MAP]. COLTON, G. W. & C. B. Colton's Map of the State of Texas. New York, 1876. Engraved map with original full color. 37.2 x 39.5 cm (14-3/4 x 15-1/2 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 65 miles. A few light stains, otherwise fine.
A very detailed and reliable standard Texas map put out by the Colton firm, one of the leading mapmakers of the day who published detailed maps based on the most up-to-date and reliable sources, including the General Land Office, Roessler, U.S. Government surveys, railroad surveys, etc. Not in Day, Phillips, or Taliaferro.
($750-1,500)

283. [MAP]. GRAY, Frank A. Gray's New Map of Texas and Indian Territory. Philadelphia: O. W. Gray & Son, 1876. Lithographed map, original full color. 41.1 x 65.2 cm (16-1/4 x 25-3/4 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 45 miles. Seven inset maps: Austin; [Pass Cavallo at Matagorda Bay]; The City of Galveston; Entrance to Galveston Bay; Part of Texas [Rio Grande Valley area]; River Systems of Texas and Indian Territory; and Hyposometric Sketch of Texas and Indian Territory. Fine.
        A large double-page atlas map printed in a horizontal format. The expanding Texas railway system is clearly marked. Plates 95 and 96 from Gray's Atlas (1876). Verso with indexed reference lists for Texas and Indian Territory. Day, p. 93.
($200-400)

284. [MAP]. TEXAS & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY. A Geographically Correct Map of the State of Texas Published by the Texas & Pacific Railway Company. Compiled from Actual Surveys, and Containing All Changes in Lines of Counties up to Sept. 1st, 1876. St. Louis: Woodward, Tiernan & Hall, 1876. Engraved map with original full color (blue, yellow, and green), single sheet folding down to a brochure. 45.8 x 50 cm (18 x 19-5/8 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 40 miles. Upper left: Tables with distance information, railway lines. Minor splits at folds. Land and emigration agent's stamp from Swan Creek, Ohio.
        Promotional map, verso with timetables, extensive text, and general pictorial title: The Texas and Pacific Railway the Shortest Line to the Great Cotton, Grain, and Stock Regions of Texas. The Texas & Pacific line was formerly known as the Southern Pacific and was sometimes called the Memphis and El Paso Road. It began at Shreveport in 1858, reached Marshall in 1859, Longview in 1870, Dallas in 1873, and Fort Worth in July 1876. The line reached Paris in March 1875, Clarksville in July, and Texarkana in August. An excellent combination of cartographic, railroad, and promotional material.
($400-800)

1877

ENORMOUS MANUSCRIPT SURVEY OF WESTERN NEW ORLEANS

285. [MANUSCRIPT SURVEY]. [WESTERN NEW ORLEANS AND EASTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY]. PILIE, Edgar (Surveyor). Certified to be a True and Correct Copy of Part of a Plan Drawn by Louis H. Pilie, Esq., Surveyor; and Dated March 30, 1875. New Orleans, 1877. Certified copy of a manuscript map in ink and watercolor wash, on cartographic linen with glazed sizing, signed at lower right: Edgar Pilie, Archt. 115.6 x 119.3 cm (45-5/8 x 47-1/8 inches). Scale not stated. Large decorative arrow showing current of the Mississippi River. Mild to moderate foxing, a few very minor tears and voids at folds. Old cotton mounting stub at center left.
        An exceptionally large-scale, beautiful, historic map showing the western portion of New Orleans and the eastern portion of Jefferson Parish. All streets are named; located are wharf areas, docks, railroad terminals, some buildings (including Custom House, Round House, and New Orleans Cotton Steam Press), etc. Superb exhibit item.
($4,000-6,000)

1878

286. [BOOK]. ROCK, James & W. I. Smith. Southern and Western Texas Guide for 1878. St. Louis: A. H. Granger, 1878. 282 [3] pp., engraved frontispiece portrait, numerous engraved views in Texas, engraved map with original full color: Map of Texas to Accompany Granger's Southern and Western Texas Guide (62.5 x 48.3 cm; 24-5/8 x 19 inches; scale: 1 inch = 20 miles; lower right: Engraved and Published by Rand, McNally & Co. Map Engravers, Chicago, Ill.; another map on verso: Map of the United States to Accompany Grangers Southern and Western Texas Guide). 8vo, original gilt-lettered green cloth. Light shelf wear, upper hinges strengthened, generally very good, the map excellent.
        First edition. Adams, Herd 1927: "Rare." CBC (140 entries). Day, p. 94. Howes R389. An excellent, reliable, and well-illustrated guide to Texas, with essays on each county and major town, information on military posts, postal service, railroads, stagecoach lines, real estate, mining, agriculture. The chapter on stockraising gives precise guidelines for establishing a cattle ranch. The accounts of Richard King and Thomas O'Connor tell how they built their fabulous empires, tempered with the advice: "Results are achieved only through industry and perseverance." The Rand, McNally map is typical of their detailed cartographical productions, with a very modern look and sensibility. Dr. Kelsey lists the images of Texas in his preliminary study on nineteenth-century engravings of Texas.
($200-400)

287. [POCKET MAP]. ST. LOUIS, IRON MOUNTAIN & SOUTHERN RAILWAY. A Geographically Correct County Map of States Traversed by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway and Its Connections. St. Louis, [1878]. Pocket map, engraved, original full color and outlining, on large sheet folding down to brochure. 46 x 81 cm (18 x 31-7/8 inches). No scale stated. A few short tears and small voids at folds.
        Very colorful (if not garish) promotional headed by large bold type in black and rose with two hands with fingers pointing on either side. There are two maps on the foldout, one showing Texas and the Southeast, and a larger scale map of the route from St. Louis to Texas. On the verso, all of which is printed in green, there is a long article on Texas by Gov. Hubbard. One can only conjecture what might have induced Gov. Hubbard to state in the section on "Moral Advancement": "It is with pride I announce...to the American people, that Texas is neither a penal colony nor a Botany Bay."
($750-1,500)

1879

288. [BOOK]. THRALL, Homer S. A Pictorial History of Texas.... St. Louis: Thompson, 1879. xix [3] 18-861 pp., about 100 wood-engraved plates and text illustrations, engraved map with Texas counties outlined in red: Texas (63 x 48 cm; 24-3/4 x 18-7/8 inches; scale: 1 inch = approximately 30 miles; lower left: Copyright by Rand, McNally; lower right: N. D. Thompson & Co., Chicago, Ill.). Thick 8vo, original gilt pictorial terracotta cloth stamped in gilt and black, beveled edges. Hinges neatly strengthened, otherwise very good to fine. Pencil signature of previous owner on front endsheet. Splits at map folds neatly repaired on verso (a few minor voids).
        Second edition (no change from the first edition, 1876). Day, p. 94. Howes T242. Raines, p. 205: "Cyclopedic in its scope, and specially valuable for its biographical sketches of distinguished Texans." This massive work is especially prized for its many illustrations. Dr. Kelsey in his preliminary study of nineteenth-century Texas lithographs comments: "There are few, if any, wood engravings in Thrall that had not been printed elsewhere. We hope to find the original printings of most of these images. Even though these images are not first printings they serve a useful purpose. They are fairly good reproductions of many important historical prints in one widely available book. Many of the originals are in rare or inaccessible books. The illustrations in a book are often more revealing than the text.... In his preface Thrall proposes to give a true picture of Texas, its soil, its climate, its people and their institutions, its resources, its capabilities for sustaining a dense population - a population to be counted by the millions. How prophetic! Thrall then goes on to extol the virtues of Texas. Over 200 biographies and the descriptions of the counties are given in alphabetic order. Strangely, Thrall makes no mention of the illustrations in the book although it is entitled a pictorial history. The 95 illustrations make it the most comprehensive collection of wood engravings about Texas in any book."
($150-300)

1880

289. [MAP]. GALVESTON, HARRISBURG & SAN ANTONIO RAILWAY. Map of the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway, "Sunset Route" The True Southern Pacific Connection between the Atlantic and Pacific. Rand, McNally & Co., Printers and Engravers...Chicago. Chicago, ca. 1880. Engraved map on single sheet folding down to brochure. 32.7 x 68.1 cm (12-3/4 x 26-3/4 inches). A few splits and small void at folds.
        Beneath the map is extensive text on Southwestern Texas, water power of Western Texas, "Wonderful Prosperity," etc. To the right, features of the route are touted in large type: "Best and Healthiest Portion of Texas," "Stock Raised in the West is Far Superior to that of the East, the Rich Mesquite Grass of the Rolling Prairies Being Declared Equal to the Famous Blue Grass of Kentucky," etc. The verso has a rose colored pictorial title and numerous engravings of scenes and architecture in Texas.
($400-800)

290. [MAP]. JOHNSTON, Keith. United States of North America (Western States). Edinburgh & London: W. & A. K. Johnston, 1880. Engraved map, original outline color. 44.5 x 57.7 cm (17-1/2 x 22-3/4 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 100 miles. Some foxing or spotting, mostly confined to the bottom left and verso, otherwise fine.
        Large relief map of the United States west of the Mississippi River with the mountains and hills standing out sharply from the background. The map appears to have never been folded, so the atlas may have been an oblong double folio atlas. From the headline, this would have been plate 46 from Keith Johnston's General Atlas.
($150-300)

291. [MAP]. UNITED STATES. CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. COMMITTEE ON RAILWAYS AND CANALS. San Antonio and Mexican Border Railway Company.... Washington: HRR756, 1880. 9, 4 pp., engraved map: Map Showing the Route of Corpus Christi, San Diego & Rio Grande Railroad, and Its Connections (23.1 x 21 cm; 9-1/8 x 8-1/4 inches; scale not stated). Splits at folds, old tape repairs on verso.
        The Committee reports in support of a bill to construct a military railway and telegraph line from San Antonio to Laredo. An attached dissenting report objects to wasting $12,000 of government moneys to construct a virtually useless railroad. A better route for military purposes, the dissenters argue, would run along the border, not to the border.
($50-100)

1881

292. [ATLAS]. UNITED STATES. MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION. Preliminary Map of the Lower Mississippi River from the Mouth of the Ohio River to the Head of the Passes in Thirty Two Sheets.... St. Louis: Buxton & Skinner, 1881-1885. 37 lithographed leaves as follows: [1, title], [1, table of distance], [3, index maps], [32, detail maps], each leaf measuring 57 x 31.6 cm (22-1/2 x 12-1/2 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 1 mile. Friable paper with some chipping to blank margins (no loss of text or border). Oblong folio, early (perhaps original?) folding green buckram portfolio lined with floral paper. Light ex-library, with engraved bookplate of Wesleyan University (including their deaccession stamp), small neat hand-written ink accession number at upper left blank margin of first sheet. Rare (no copies recorded in the auction records checking back to 1975). OCLC locates 13 institutional holdings, and RLIN lists one additional.
        First edition. Phillips, America, p. 442. This atlas documents a remarkable survey from Columbus, Kentucky, to the mouth of the Mississippi. U.S. Congress by an act of 1879 authorized the Mississippi River Commission, which Smith S. Leach supervised. Three separate governing bodies conducted the work of this massive survey: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi River Commission, and the U.S. Coast Survey. The maps are incredibly detailed and on an extremely large scale, showing plans of villages and cities, roadways, railroads, plantations and farms (indicating ownership), Indian mounds, churches, canebrakes, cultivated fields (keyed to indicate specific crops grown, such as cotton, sugarcane, etc.), ports, streams, rivers, bays, sand and mud bars, channel lines, levees, canals, ditches, fences, hedges, timber (keyed to indicate cypress, cottonwood, etc.), swamps (open and wooded), etc.
($2,000-4,000)

293. [MAP]. UNITED STATES. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. NICHOLSON, W. L. (cartographer). Post Route Map of the State of Texas with Adjacent Parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Indian Territory and of the Republic of Mexico.... [Washington: U.S. Post Office] 1881. Large lithographed map on two sheets with original highlight coloring. Western half measures 104.5 x 73 cm (41-1/8 x 28-5/8 inches); eastern half measures 104.5 x 74 cm (41-1/8 x 29-1/8 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 15 miles. Some areas lacking at bottom corners (in Mexico, not Texas). Printed on heavy paper which has modern backing. Some tears and soiling. Very rare.
        According to the map legend, the map first issued in 1878, and this is a revised edition with service updated to September 1881. Phillips (Maps of America, p. 848) notes that the Library of Congress has a copy of this issue, but does not mention the 1878 edition. Not in Day, Rosenberg, etc. An essential map for the study of Texas postal history, this large-scale map shows every postal route, each post office, discontinued post offices, railroads. Color coding indicates frequency of mail service.
($1,000-3,000)

1882

294. [MAP]. UNITED STATES. CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY. Tracing of Red River Taken from Map of the United States Published by John Mellish June 6, 1816. Improved to January 1, 1818. [Washington], 1882. Engraved map. 31 x 44 cm (12 x 17-1/2 inches). Scale not stated. With the map is the 6-page committee report: Boundary between Texas and Indian Territory (HR Report No. 1282). Irregular left margin where removed from volume, creased where folded.
        In the nineteenth century, a 2,000-square-mile area was claimed by both Texas and the Indian Territory, based upon different interpretations of which branch of the Red River determined the border. Texas claimed historic right to the land and established Greer County to fill the area. The space in controversy lay up against the Panhandle and between the North Fork and the South Fork of the Red River. Texas claimed the North Fork as the proper boundary. The report presented here counters with the claim of the United States and reproduces the early Mellish map to support that claim. The Greer County matter remained in dispute for more than a decade longer until the U.S. Supreme Court finally decided against Texas.
($30-60)

1884

295. [MAP]. MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY COMPANY, LIMITED. Mexico. Mapa de las lineas del Ferrocarril Central. Buffalo: Matthews, Northrup & Co., Engravers & Printers, [1884]. Machine printed map with colored shading and outlining on a large sheet folding down to a brochure, colored decorative integral cover with Mexican motifs. 36.8 x 52.2 cm (14-1/2 x 20-1/2 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 95 miles. At lower left is a profile of the terrain from El Paso to Mexico City. Verso with timetable and highlights of the route, in Spanish and English. Very fine.
        The railroad route is depicted in brilliant red; connecting lines are shown in black. In the promotional material, the Ferrocarril Central Mexicano describes itself as "the only all-rail line to Mexico and the only route free from yellow fever, perils and sickness by sea, stage traveling, the prostrating heat of the coasts, and losses and delays of baggage." Southern California, Arizona, and Mexico are shown, and most of Texas. M. H. King is listed as agent for the line in Paso del Norte.
($50-100)

296. [GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT]. UNITED STATES. CONGRESS. SENATE. Report...to Accompany a Bill to Provide for the Improvement of the Channel between Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. [Washington], 1884. 42 pp., folding map: The City of Galveston and Its Tributary Transportation Lines with Their Connections in the United States and in Mexico. Prepared by Joseph Nimmo, Jr...to Accompany His Report on the Improvement of the Harbor of Galveston (58.5 x 50.8 cm; 23 x 19-7/8 inches; scale: 1 inch = 75 miles; insets of Galveston Bay and Harbour and Galveston in Relation to Initial and Foreign Commerce. Disbound, map with short splits at fold junctures.
        48th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Report No. 902.
($40-80)

1885

296. [GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT]. UNITED STATES. CONGRESS. SENATE. Report...to Accompany a Bill to Provide for the Improvement of the Channel between Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. [Washington], 1884. 42 pp., folding map: The City of Galveston and Its Tributary Transportation Lines with Their Connections in the United States and in Mexico. Prepared by Joseph Nimmo, Jr...to Accompany His Report on the Improvement of the Harbor of Galveston (58.5 x 50.8 cm; 23 x 19-7/8 inches; scale: 1 inch = 75 miles; insets of Galveston Bay and Harbour and Galveston in Relation to Initial and Foreign Commerce. Disbound, map with short splits at fold junctures.
        48th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Report No. 902.
($40-80)

297. [BIRD'S-EYE VIEW]. NORRIS, WELLGE & CO. (publisher). Denison, Texas. Grayson County. 1886. Milwaukee: Norris Wellge & Co., 1885. Lithographic bird's-eye city view. Black and white. Image: 39.2 x 68.1 cm (15-3/8 x 26-1/2 inches); image with text: 49.8 x 68.1 cm (20 x 26-1/2 inches). Insets: Denison Improvement Company's Addition, and Front View of South Side of Main Street. Lower left: Beck & Pauli Litho. Milwaukee, Wis. Legend below identifying approximately one hundred landmarks and buildings. Contemporary black wooden rollers. Some minor waterstaining to image (confined to sky area); occasional light creasing and cracking due to having been rolled; one small hole to sky at upper left.
        Apparently the earliest lithographic bird's-eye view of Denison, Texas. Reps (Views 3960) locates two copies (Amon Carter Museum & Library of Congress). Established in 1872 as a railroad town, Denison quickly grew, and during the next ten years established itself as a retail and shipping point for North Texas. The lithograph shows a bustling town criss-crossed by railroads and with the belching smoke stacks of the Denison Cotton Company, M-K-T railroad shops, Denison Water Supply Company, and other factories. This handsome view was the collaborative effort of George E. Norris (Reps, Views, pp. 193-94) and Henry Wellge (Reps, Views, pp. 213-14), who joined forces in 1884. Reps states that Wellge, the German-born artist who settled in Milwaukee in 1878, "ranks with the most prolific of the city view artists of America" (p. 213).
($4,000-8,000)

SANBORN DOES DALLAS

298. [ATLAS]. SANBORN MAP & PUBLISHING CO. Dallas, Texas. New York: Sanborn Publishing Co., 1885. 18 lithograph plates (double-page index and title plate, 17 double-page map plates). Large folio, original three-quarter green cloth over plain boards, label of the California Insurance Co. on upper cover. Covers rubbed and worn, spine partially gone, outer leaves browned from contact with acidic boards, leaves browned at edges with occasional stains.
        Dallas in all its detail, presented by Sanborn, the pre-eminent producer of fire insurance atlases. The Sanborn maps are incredible. Executed with a scale 50 feet to an inch, every structure in each map area is accurately shown with block-by-block, street-by-street, structure-by-structure representations. Use of every structure is given: dwelling, grocery, storage, livery, lumber yard, church, saloon, hardware, water tower, etc., with the name of the individual business owner or public building noted. Public buildings, such as the Dallas Opera House, may even have floor plans with uses of interior rooms given. Color coding denotes building material. Some establishments even have additional useful notes, such as: "Dallas Corn and Feed Mill. Man sleeps in mill. 40'7" rubber hose. Steam power, fuel wood & cobs. No lights."
        Fire insurance maps were designed to assist fire insurance agents in determining the degree of risk associated with any property. For almost one hundred years, from 1867 to 1961, Sanborn Map Company produced their fire insurance maps for every major U.S. city, and most not so major. In its time, the company published maps and atlases of more than twelve thousand U.S. urban areas. Ron Tyler (Prints of the West, pp. 153-55) describes the fire insurance maps as a successor to the bird's-eye view in documenting the growth of towns and cities. Schwartz & Ehrenberg, pp. 279-281: "The demand for more graphic detail found one form of expression in large-scale fire insurance maps of urban areas.... After the Civil War...production really expanded with the establishing of the Sanborn Map and Publishing Company in 1867. The latter came to dominate this unique and specialized form of cartographic representation until 1961, when it discontinued the fire insurance series." An idea of the extent of their production is shown by the Library of Congress Sanborn collection, the largest extant collection of maps produced by the company. The Library of Congress has some fifty thousand editions of Sanborn fire insurance map atlases comprising about seven hundred thousand individual sheets.
($7,500-15,000)

1887

299. [MAP]. [MITCHELL, S. Augustus]. County Map of the State of Texas Showing also Portions of the Adjoining States and Territories. [Philadelphia]: William M. Bradley & Bros., 1887. Engraved map, original full and outline color. 36.5 x 54.3 cm (14-3/8 x 21-3/8 inches). Scale: 1 inch = 50 miles. Inset map at lower left: Plan of Galveston and Vicinity. Outline coloring of states. Creased where formerly folded into atlas, minor tears at bottom blank margin.
        The Rio Grande Valley extends below the neat line and the inset of the east end of Galveston Island is contoured to fit around the Big Bend. Counties of New Mexico as well as Texas are colored. Although the map is dated 1887, the counties are shown in their pre-1885 configurations (Crockett and Tom Green are undivided). Phillips, Atlases 6234. Pages 64 and 65 from Mitchell's New General Atlas.
($100-200)

CEROGRAPHIC POCKET MAP OF TEXAS BY RAND, McNALLY

MARTIN & MARTIN 49

300. [POCKET MAP]. RAND, McNALLY & CO. Rand, McNally & Co.'s New Enlarged Scale Railroad and County Map of Texas Compiled from the Latest and Most Accurate Surveys. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1887. Pocket map with text (61 [1, ad] pp.), folded into original 12mo, stiff brown printed wrappers (cover title: Rand, McNally & Co.'s Indexed County and Railroad Pocket Map and Shippers' Guide of Texas....). Cerographic full color map. 64.8 x 73.6 cm (25-1/2 x 29 inches). Scale: 1 inch = approximately 32 miles. Two insets at upper and lower left: Untitled map of the Trans-Pecos and N. W. Corner and Pan-handle. Lower right: Untitled county map of Texas. Fragile upper wraps with marginal chipping (affecting mainly border at upper right corner, no loss of text), slight wear to text. The map has a few small splits and one minor repair.
        A large pocket map with great detail for Texas in the 1880s, showing "the entire railroad system" and "all the cities, towns, post offices, railroad stations, villages, counties, islands, lakes, rivers, etc." Martin & Martin 49: "The era of railroad transportation and western migration created a great demand for Rand, McNally's maps and guidebooks; these same forces, however, rendered the product virtually obsolete overnight. The number of copies required also strained the limits of the traditional methods of producing such items. In short, there was a great demand for large numbers of accurate, inexpensive, up-to-date maps and guidebooks. To fill this demand it was necessary for Rand, McNally to adopt a new printing technology, cerography or wax engraving, which produced a hard, durable plate that could be used in the new steam-powered presses, but which could also be easily corrected and amended. The adoption and perfection of the wax-engraving process as a production technique had enormous influence on the growth of Rand, McNally....
        "Rand, McNally's guidebooks developed into a number of other products designed to serve the same market, including a series of County and Railroad Pocket Maps and Shippers' Guides for the several states. These works focused on the railroad lines linking towns and settlements in the developing West and became an important mainstay in the commerce of the region. They were constantly revised and updated.... The maps were accompanied by a Shippers' Guide, which included an index to the maps in which the towns were located, as well as listings of train schedules and connections and prevailing rates. When examined in a series, these Rand, McNally maps reveal the westward march of settlement."
($1,250-2,500)