Colton, George W.

Colton's Atlas of the World, illustrating Physical and Political Geography. New York: J. H. Colton and Company; Baltimore: James Waters [in vol. 2, the London imprint of Trübner and Company is substituted for Waters], 1856



2 volumes, folio (18 1/2 x 15 7/8 in.; 469 x 404 mm). Engraved allegorical frontispieces, that in first vol. with title "Colton's American Atlas," 110 engraved map sheets (some double-sheets), almost all hand-colored; occasional light browning, a few scattered marginal tears including map of Texas. Publisher's morocco-backed blind-panelled brown cloth, front covers gilt with title and elaborate allegorical vignette, yellow-coated endpapers, marbled edges; extremities rather worn, endpapers stained.

C. Moore (signature, Sing Sing, 1856, on front free endpapers)

Phillips 816; Rumsey 149b (one-volume 1856 edition); Sabin 14787 

An attractive copy of Colton's first world atlas. The first volume features 62 maps devoted to the United States and the New World; the rest of the world is covered in the second volume. The variant secondary imprints indicate that the two volumes were marketed individually and also as a set. "This atlas was the first world atlas produced by Colton, after many years of issuing pocket maps, wall maps, guides, and maps for books. The atlas was one of the finest and most accurate of the period" (Rumsey).