2 volumes. Vol. I with 57 total hand-colored maps, 2 are double-page, plus insets, and 1 plate with 4 maps not colored. Vol. II with 35 total hand-colored maps and charts (2 are double-page), plus insets; 6 hand-colored charts on 3 sheets; and 5 plates containing 8 maps that are not colored (including plans for London and Paris). Vol. I with added pictorial steel-engraved title page; Vol. II with steel-engraved plate before title page. (Folio) 18½x16, original quarter brown morocco and blind-stamped cloth, front covers decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt.
A mixed year two volume set of Colton’s important "Atlas of the World" published in the mid-1850’s. Volume I (1855) with U.S. maps, of: Nebraska and Kanzas (sic) with an extra large Nebraska, no Montana and portions of Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin; Texas with two inset plans for Galveston Bay and Sabine Lake and shows roads and trails going into Mexico; map for the Territories of New Mexico and Utah showing Fremont's 1844-45 routes; California with an inset of San Francisco and shows Atlantic and Pacific R.R. lines; Washington and Oregon Territories with extended land mass. Also, nice double-page maps of the United States and New York City. City plans for Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, etc. Volume II (1856) with maps outside of the America’s, covering European countries, Australia, Arabia, Asia, Islands of the Pacific Ocean and a chart showing the mountains and rivers of the world. See Phillips Atlases 816 (citing the 1856 two volume edition).
Condition:
Both disbound with loose signatures and/or plates, lacking spines, covers detached (but present), some rubbing wear to exterior, corners worn; toning and finger-soiling to contents, occasional marginal dampstains; maps mostly very good or better; bindings just fair and need repairs.