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Description

The Earliest Printed Map To Show All of Michigan Territory

Nice old color example of Fielding Lucas' map of Michigan Territory, the first separate map of Territory of Michigan to incorporate the entire Territory (unlike Carey & Lea's map, which only includes the "pre-1818" Michigan Territory). In fact, Lucas' map of Michigan Territory is basically the only obtainable map of the Territory to appear in a commercial atlas.

From 1805 to 1818, Michigan Territory was more or less the region which is just Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. However, from 1818 to 1833, the territory was expanded to include all of the land east of the Mississippi River, incorporating the modern states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and part of the Dakotas. Later, in 1833, the territory was expanded further to include part of the future state of Iowa, which is how it remained configured until the creation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836.

The map is richly illustrated and includes nice detail for the period. Sources of the Mississippi 3038 miles above the Gulph of Mexico are noted, as are numerous Indian villages.

A striking example of Fielding Lucas' fine work, which distinguished him as the best publisher of the era. Lucas' maps are highly desirable and increasingly scarce. His maps are printed on a higher quality paper than contemporary maps by Carey & Lea and demonstrate a superior engraving quality and more attractive coloring style.

Fielding Lucas Jr. Biography

Fielding Lucas, Jr. (1781-1854) was a prominent American cartographer, engraver, artist, and public figure during the first half of the 19th century.

Lucas was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia and moved to Philadelphia as a teenager, before settling in Baltimore. There he launched a successful cartographic career. Lucas's first atlas was announced in early- to mid-1812, with production taking place between September 1812 and December of 1813, by which point the engravings were complete. Bound copies of the atlas -- A new and elegant general atlas: Containing maps of each of the United States -- were available early in the next year, beating Carey to market by about two months. Lucas later published A General Atlas Containing Distinct Maps Of all the known Countries in the World in the early 1820s.