216 pp. With large folding lithographed map hand-colored in outline (24x29"). 5½x3½, original gilt-pictorial cloth.
A prolific producer of guide books, Williams prepared most of those issued by Appleton's from 1847 to 1854, and in 1851 he began a guide book under his own name, issuing it annually, with numerous changes and additions, until 1859. The guide covers numerous routes from all American cities and includes useful information for the overland traveler. In the West, previous editions had given the trail route and mileage of the Oregon Trail, which appears here. Notably added to this edition is extensive trail information for Texas and the Southwest, with routes from Galveston, Matagorda, and Austin; Austin to the Rio Grande; San Antonio to El Paso; St. Louis to Santa Fe; Fort Smith to Dona Anna, N.M.; and most significantly, Santa Fe to San Diego by the Gila River route, passing through what would become the Gadsden Purchase, along the line which would soon be surveyed for a southern railroad route. The large map is entitled "A New Map of the United States. Upon which are delineated its vast works of Internal Communication, Routes Across the Continent &..." It extends as far west as the Great Plains, showing roads and trails west of the Mississippi in considerable detail. An inset in the lower right corner is a smaller "Map of California, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, &." Williams first produced this inset in 1852. Mintz notes that this 1853 issue "is one of the earliest [maps] to delineate 'Washington Territory,'" though it is not acknowledged in the map title. Two other insets show Cuba and the city of Havana. Clark III:434; Graff 4687 (1851 ed); Mintz 499; Wheat Transmississippi (1852 issue).
Condition:
Cloth at front joint splitting; some foxing to contents, stain to pp.112-113, map with a few small scattered brown spots, a few short splits to creases, else very good, the map bright and near fine.