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Pub Year	Map Maker	Pub Place	Map Title	Map Price (USD)	Picture
1838	Bradford, Thomas Gamaliel	Boston	Arkansas	$450	Picture

A copper-plate engraving with hand-painted wash color.

Size: 26 cm x 30 cm. Scale: 1 inch = 20 miles.

Map Type: Atlas

 In good condition with small amounts of spotting in margin areas not affecting image. Center bottom verso has been reinforced with rice paper where acids from inks created thin areas in original paper. The image was not affected.

Thomas Gamaliel Bradford served as an assistant editor of the America Encyclopedia before entering the field of atlas publishing. His first edition atlas, An Illustrated Atlas Geographical, Statistical and Historical of the United States and Adjacent Countries contained maps engraved by G.W. Boynton, who operated an engraving company in Boston during the 1830's and 1840's. The maps were used in other publications and the occurrence of this example is from A General Atlas of the World, With A Separate Map Of Each Of The United States Of America. Edited By S.G. Goodrich. This version was the Bradford 1838 Illustrated Atlas, without the text and with the addition of ten maps: two hemispheres, South America, Atlantic Ocean, Europe (3), Africa, Asia, and Pacific Ocean.

This map displays Arkansas only two years after it had been granted statehood in 1836. During this time, Arkansas had a small, rural population, and was very much still a wilderness with few roads.

Just a year before this map was produced, the Speaker of the Arkansas House, John Wilson, stabbed the Randolph County Representative, J.J. Anthony to death with knife during the state's first legislative session in 1837. Randolph county is displayed in the upper right portion of the state, just below the Missouri boundary on this map.

The map displays towns and topographical features such as mountains, rivers, lakes and a "Great Swamp" along the upper portion of the White Water River. The Choctaw Agency location is illustrated near today's Fort Smith and Fort Coffee. Some post office and court house locations are also noted, and it is obvious that the Arkansas River is a major transportation route due to the number of major towns located along its banks. The soon to be controversial Miller county, claimed by both Texas and Arkansas as part of their territory, is also part of this map.

This maps "place in time" makes it an essential element for any serious Arkansas map collection.

References: : A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, 783-37, Phillips, P.L, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1909; Rumsey 4457.037