1854 Jacob Monk wall map of North America with California Gold Region – exceptional example!

New Map of that Portion of North America, Exhibiting the United States and Territories, the Canadas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Mexico, also Central America, and the West India Islands

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SKU: NL-00177 Categories: , ,
Cartographer(s): Jacob Monk
Date: 1854
Place: Baltimore
Dimensions: 140 x 150 cm (55 x 59 in)
Condition Rating: VG
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Description

Majestic wall map of the Unites States and Central America, with an inset of the world on Mercator’s projection, and a table of distances and a table of counties and towns with more than 1,200 names.

The map offers an incredible depiction of the United States between the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Civil War. California has entered the Union and the map provided viewers with the information they coveted on the location and extend of the gold region, colored yellow. Little did most of those viewers known, the cartography is quite inaccurate, with Auburn well north of Sacramento between Marysville and Yuba City. The Great Basin area is also inaccurate and roughly follows the Fremont model.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the map is the extraordinary treatment of the region between the Mississippi River and the the Rocky Mountains. The various Indian Territories are separately hand colored and identified with exacting detail, one of the few maps of the period which attempted to make this delineation and unquestionably the largest and most beautiful example. The mis-projected Texas, pre-Gadsden purchase border with Mexico. The explorations of Pope and Nicollet are reflected in the newly formed Minnesota Territory and the Hydrographical Basin of the Mississippi River.

Provenance: R. Rubin, 11/92

This is the fourth state of the map (although there is possibly an 1850 edition), with editions for the years 1851, 1852, 1853 (in at least two states), 1854 (in at least two states), 1856, 1857, 1858. Monk issued two variants of this map in 1854, an earlier version that, similar to the 1853 issue, showed Nebraska as ‘proposed Territory of Nebraska’ and this version, issued following the ratification of Nebraska Territory in May of 1854, which drops ‘proposed’ and ads a note regarding the establishment of the territory.

Verso Text: Blank

Cartographer(s):

Condition Description

Expertly cleaned. See image; one of the best examples we have seen in many years.

References

Wheat Transmississippi 794; Wheat Gold Region 243 (both for 1853 editions)