The First "Completed" Road Atlas of the United States
First published in 1802, The Traveller’s Directory . . . is the second earliest American road atlas and the first to depict, in a systematic and detailed manner, the major roads linking New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.
The first American road atlas was Christopher Colles’s Survey of the Roads of the United States (1789), which as in fact never completed, the few surviving examples being incomplete, typically lacking plates 34-39. The work is generally considered unobtainable. The publication of The Traveller’s Directory coincided with the rapid development of infrastructure in the newly formed United States. The importance of a reliable road system for commerce, communication, and governance was paramount, particularly between the nation's emerging political and economic centers. The directory provided travelers with an unprecedented level of detail regarding the routes, their geographical features, and the towns and villages along the way.
The text portion of the book serves as a geographical, historical, and architectural survey of the key cities and towns along the route. It provides descriptions of major institutions in Philadelphia, such as the Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia Library, and Peale’s Museum, which housed one of the most significant early collections of natural history specimens in the country. Washington, D.C., still in its formative years, is described with particular attention to the Capitol, the President’s House, and Georgetown.
Mathew Carey, the publisher of The Traveller’s Directory, commissioned Joshua John Moore and Thomas W. Jones to conduct the extensive surveys required for the maps. Their task was grueling, as evidenced by a letter dated June 29, 1801, in which they described the physical and social challenges of their work. The necessity of conducting surveys under the scrutiny of curious onlookers, combined with the physical toll of travel, underscored the difficulty of producing a precise and thorough record of the roads.
The resulting maps set a new standard for American road atlases. Relief was represented through a hachure, an engraving technique that conveyed the topography of the landscape. Roads were carefully delineated alongside natural and man-made landmarks, including streams, graveyards, taverns, churches, dwellings, brickyards, and woodlands. Notably, the maps incorporated small but fascinating details such as a “pyramidal rock,” a “Chinese House” on the Delaware River, and “hawthorn fences” lining the roads.
The maps in The Traveller’s Directory were executed by four engravers: William Harrison, Jr., Francis Shallus, John Draper, and James Smither, Jr. Their work demonstrated a refinement in style reminiscent of English road atlases, particularly those by John Cary. The precision of the engravings significantly surpassed those in Colles’s earlier road survey, resulting in a visually superior and more informative cartographic record. The first edition, published in 1802, was followed by the 1804 edition, which featured an expanded and revised text while maintaining the same set of maps.
Rarity
The Traveller’s Directory is considered scarce.
Provenance
- John Gribbel St. Austell Hall, his book plate
- Park-Bernet Galleries, sold January 1941 for $20.00 (pencil note below) bookplate.
John Gribbel (March 29, 1858 – August 25, 1936) was an American businessman, bibliophile, and philanthropist, known for his significant contributions to book collecting and literary preservation. A devoted collector of rare manuscripts, Gribbel donated thed Glenriddell Manuscripts, an important collection of Robert Burns's writings, to the National Library of Scotland in 1923.
Beyond his literary pursuits, Gribbel was the owner of St. Austell Hall, a grand estate on 42 acres in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, which included a library, billiard room and a built-in pipe organ.