Williams, Wellingon “A New Map of the United States upon which are delineated its vast works of internal communications, ... 1853"

Wellington Williams.  “A New Map of the United States upon which are delineated its vast works of internal communications, Routes across the Continent &c. Showing Also Canada and the Island Of Cuba, 1853.”   From Thomas Baldwin and J. Thomas, M.D. A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States; giving a full and comprehensive review of the present condition, industry, and resources of the American Confederacy . . . .

Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854.  25 1/4 x 29 3/4.  Lithograph on bank note paper.  Original hand color.  With folds as originally issued. Hair margin right hand side.  Browning in title area due to old glue where map was mounted to inside cover.  Several small repaired tears along folds.  Browning along vertical fold in the west with a few small losses along fold filled and in-painted.  A few folds reinforced with archival tape and to flatten folds.  Else, good condition. 

A fine map of the United States from the Lippincott, Grambo & Co.’s Gazetteer of 1854.  The map shows the country from the Atlantic Ocean to the middle of Texas and the Nebraska Territory, with an inset of the western parts of the United States entitled “Map of California, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah &c.” The map is impressively detailed, showing roads, canals, and railroad lines throughout the country. Even though the inset of the western parts is on a reduced scale, it is praised by Carl Wheat for its “much up-to-date information” from Frémont, Marcy, Wilkes, Emory, Abert, Johnston, Simpson, Whiting and others. The map also contains three other insets, one of Cuba, one of the city and harbor of Havana, and the last showing the Niagara peninsula. 1853-54 was a time of considerable change in the country and one cannot find a better snap-shot of the United States than this book and map

Born in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Thomas Baldwin (1807- 1887) was a Philadelphia school teacher and cartographer. His cousin, Joseph Thomas (b. Cayuga County, New York 1811 - d. Philadelphia 1891), was educated at Yale and Rensselaer Polytechnic, practiced medicine in Philadelphia, and taught Latin and Greek at Haverford College.  The Quaker cousins collaborated on this book, as well as on several editions of a “pronouncing” gazetteer.  Dr. Thomas also published a medical dictionary and a pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology.