Copper-engraved map, hand-colored in outline. 60.5x50 cm. (23¾x19¾"). As issued, in Vol. I of William Kennedy's "Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas," London: R. Hastings, 1841, 8vo, original cloth. Also present in the volume is:
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Cheffins, Charles Frederick, "Map of the Republic of Texas and Adjacent Territories, Indicating the Grants of Land Conceded under the Empresario System of Mexico." Lithographed map. 31.5x37.8 cm.
Second issue of John Arrowsmith's important, large map of Texas as an independent republic, the frontispiece in William Kennedy's "Texas..." The first issue, dated February 1841, appeared in Arrowsmith's London Atlas. This influential map was regarded as "the best and most useful map of Texas at the time of its publication," as noted by Amon Carter Museum, Crossroads of Empire: Early Printed Maps of Texas and the Southwest, 1513-1900, 33, "The depiction of the western boundary of Texas as the Rio Grande as far north as its source reflects the popular notion of that period and helps to illustrate the rationale behind the ill-fated Santa Fe expedition. The map was widely copied, attested by the number of times Arrowsmith’s errors in the Panhandle area describing that territory as well-wooded and watered were added to many later maps. Despite this mistake, the map is generally one of the best maps for the Republic period.” Wheat, Transmississippi #451, calls it "a landmark for its delineation of the pioneer counties of the State, as well as for its inclusion of Le Grand’s ‘exploration’ in what is now the Panhandle and beyond.... The chief interest in the map is the showing (albeit somewhat erroneously) of the heads of the Colorado (of Texas), the Red, and the ‘Cimerone.’ It is very detailed in that area.” There are two insets, of Galveston Bay, and the western half of North America. The present example of the map is expertly repaired by the Green Dragon Bindery in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, backed with tissue and a 6" stub tear neatly repaired. The Cheffins map is also of significance, concentrating as it does on the land grants. It also is expertly backed with tissue.