Beschreibung:

An Atlas of the State of New York. Text by Simeon De Witt.
New York: David H. Burr, 1829. Large folio (23x18 inches, 584x457 mm). Illustrated title with an engraved vignette of the Hudson near Fishkill, 49 (of 52) hand-colored engraved maps (lacking county maps of Westchester, Hamilton and Essex). Library buckram. Condition: front free endpaper torn, remnants of wax seals on half title, dampstaining affecting upper margins of preliminary text but not affecting maps, scattered minor edge tears to text, two-sheet map of Manhattan separated along folds and crudely repaired with cellotape, other maps in good condition. first edition of the landmark new york atlas, only the second state atlas to appear in america. Indeed, Burr's Atlas of the State of New York and Robert Mill's Atlas of the State of South Carolina (1825) were the only state atlases produced in America prior to the Civil War. The elaborate atlas contains a general map of the state followed by a two sheet map of Manhattan and then single or double-page maps of each county. The maps are quite detailed, with towns, rivers, canals, roads, railroads, some references to landowners and other elements accurately depicted. The state-sponsored production of the atlas began in the mid-1820s when Burr, supervised by Surveyor General Simeon De Witt, solicited draft maps from each county. Multiple issues of the first edition have been identified by the individual dates on each map, with this copy being the earliest issue with the maps dated 1829. A second edition of the atlas appeared in 1839. Howes B1017; Phillips 2206; Sabin 19873.