Lithographed map, hand-colored. A strip-style map in five vertical columns. 94.5x131 cm (37¼x51½"), formerly folding, now flattened and backed with rice paper, original gilt-lettered blindstamped cloth folder present, 18.5x12.5 cm (7¼x5").
This is the second edition of the map, following the 1862 first edition. It is considered the best map of the Lower Mississippi from the Civil War Period, showing the river from its junction with the Missouri to its mouth. The mammoth scale allows for great detail, including forts and military installations, cities and towns, plantations and farms, riverboat landings, cut-offs, islands, bayous, river mileage, high-water and low-water channels, and the canal at Island No. 10. The William Bowen referred to in the title was a childhood friend of Samuel Clemens, i.e. Mark Twain.
Provenance: Xerxes Books, 11/82; the restoration by Karen Zukor, 8/88
References: Mapline, 28, 12/82. Stephanson, Civil War Maps, 2nd edition, #41, ( Rep ). The 1862 edition is #28