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Pub Year	Map Maker	Pub Place	Map Title	Map Price (USD)	Picture
1850	Thomas, Cowperthwait, & Co.	Philadelphia	A New Map of the State of California with surrounding territories	$400	Picture

An engraved map, with full color wash

Size: 15-1/2 inches X 12-1/2 inches.

Map Type: Atlas

This is an excellent copy, with vivid colors. A tear from the margin into the image om New Mexico has been repaired with archival tape

Thomas, Cowperthwait & Company of Philadelphia purchased the copyright of the New Universal Atlas from Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Sr. in 1850. Taken from this atlas, this map is attractive and legible, and is a particularly scarce variant of the West.

The west is illustrated after the war with Mexico and just before the discovery of gold in California. The boundary with Mexico is shown at the Gila River prior to the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. Many Indian tribes are named.

Joseph Colton began his publishing company in 1830 and became known around the world for the best grade of geographical publications. In 1860, perhaps struggling with financial difficulties, and with a new world atlas almost completed, Colton struck a somewhat mysterious deal with Alvin Jewitt Johnson, selling his engraved plates and General Atlas copyrights. Johnson & Browning immediately updated them with themselves named as publishers and "successors to J.H.Colton and Company" for the General Atlas.

Taken from Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas, With Descriptions, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, this map is uncommon as it was published for a very short period. The strong decorative border used by Colton is still present in this version published by Johnson & Browning, an indication that this map was published almost immediately after the acquisition from Colton.

In 1862, Johnson & Browning introduced a "steel plate" version of this atlas and the decorative border changed. By 1865, the Colton name had been removed from all of Johnson's publications.

Bradford served as an assistant editor of the America Encyclopedia before entering the field of atlas publishing with his first work published in 1835. G.W. Boynton, the engraver of this map, operated an engraving shop in Boston between 1830 and 1845.

With the financial success of his 1835 A Comprehensive Atlas…, Bradford was able to update his maps, enlarge them and add a descriptive text to each. For map hungry Americans, these were attractive features to those interested in migrating during the burgeoning western expansion of the United States.

This map is from the 1st edition of An Illustrated Atlas….considered by most to be Bradford's best atlas, far superior to the smaller and more crudely drawn 1835 Comprehensive Atlas.

Taken from An Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, And Historical, Of The United States And The Adjacent Countries. T.G.

References: Mapping the Trans-Mississippi West, # 725, Wheat, Carl, Maurizio Martino Publisher, Storrs-Mansfield, CT, 1957, Wheat; A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, #800, Phillips, P.L, Government Printing Office, Washington; American Maps and Mapmakers, page 313, Ristow, George, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1985