Engraved map, hand-colored. 58.5x75.8 cm (23x30"), backed with linen & sectioned for folding, cloth ribbon protector around edges.
First issue of this rare and important map of Mexico including the present southwest of the United States, detailed and well-engraved with bright coloring. In New California, the nascent Sierra Nevada is shown in the south, with the engraved notation "These mountains are supposed to extend much farther to the North than here shown but there are no data by which to trace them with accuracy." In the interior, a large Salt Lake is shown (Great Salt Lake?), connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Buenaventura river. In lower left there is a large inset, "Map of the Roads &c from Vera Cruz & Alvarado to Mexico." There is a table of distances and a statistical table. Warren Heckrotte notes that "This map is the first in a long series of maps; these maps are discussed and described by Ristow. This map is rare." OCLC/WorldCat lists only two examples of this 1825 first issue, at Yale, and at Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Klassik in Germany. There is a copy of the 1826 second issue in the Rumsey Collection, but not the first.
Further Notes from the Files of Warren Heckrotte
Provenance: Old Print Shop, 10/66
Issues: 1825; 1826; 1826 copyright 4/2/1832; 1834 2nd ed; 1837 2nd ed; 1838 2nd ed; 1839 2nd ed; 1846 2nd ed copyright 1846; 1846 3rd ed; 1847 4th ed, copyright 1846; 1847 5th ed, copyright 1846; 1850, copyright 1846. In 1849 Tanner took a portion of this map and titled it California, New Mexico, Texas, etc. California gold region in yellow.
References: W-TW 364. Ristow, A La Carte, pp 204-221. Streeter Auc, lot , lists seven issues.