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Rare early map of the Colleton District, comprising St. John-Colletion, St. Bartholemew, St. John Berkeley, St. Stephen, St. Paul, St. George-Dorchester, St. Philip, and St. James-Goose Parishes, from Mills' Atlas of South Carolina, the first State Atlas published in the United States.

The map extends from St. Helena Sound and the mouths of the Edisto, North Edisto and Combahee River along the coastline, and is centered on Walterboro. The map shows in remarkable detail the towns, rivers, roads (with some distances), courthouses, MIlls, Ferries and a host of other details. The map details are drawn largely from John Wilson's 1822 map of South Carolina.

Mills' 1825 Atlas Of The State Of South Carolina, Made Under The Authority Of The Legislature; Prefaced With A Geographical, Statistical And Historical Map Of The State . . . . is the first State Atlas published in America (Fielding Lucas Jr. of Baltimore was the publisher, with the maps made by Tanner in Philadelphia). The atlas was reissued with slight revisions in 1838. Tanner engraved the District maps and Lucas engraved the State map on the title page.

Rumsey notes that "the District maps are very detailed showing land owners, taverns, Churches, mills, roads and some distances along the roads, swamps, mountains - all in the finest Tanner style of engraving."

Robert Mills, who was born in Charleston in 1781. Mills served as state architect for South Carolina, designing the Lunatic Asylum and many local courthouses, and later won the contest to design the Washington Monument in Washington, DC. The atlas, made for the South Carolina State Legislature, contains 28 district maps and this state map, made from a state sponsored survey of all the districts.

The map surveyor, Samuel Abiel Ruddock, was born in Boston in 1768. Ruddock was apparently active in America as a mapmaker and Surveyor beginning in the late 18th Century. He was the first person to respond to the Massachusetts State Legislature's call for bids to make the first maps of Maine and Massachusetts, submitting a bid on March 13, 1797. Prior to that time, he had published A geographical view of all the post towns in the United States of America, [Boston, 1796]. He likely moved to South Carolina about the time he married South Carolina Governor William R. Davie's daughter. He was the author of a rare pamphlet entitled Palladium of knowledge, or, The Carolina and Georgia almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1818 / the astronomical part by Samuel Ruddock, published in Charleston by W.P. Young, circa 1817.