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John Melish's map of Pennsylvania is one of the most earliest important large format maps of an individual American state.
As with his map of the United States, Melish meticulously compiled the best available information and regularly updated his map. First issued in 1822, this later edition has been extensively updated, with over 6,000 corrections identified by one bibliographer. The importance of the map cannot be understated. Two fine examples from the Mark Babinski collection sold in 2005, but otherwise, the map is very rare on the market. The present example is in wall map form, with its original rods. The map has been cleaned and placed on fresh linen. There is some soiling and minor restorations within the printed image, but in all it is a very attractive example. Detailed photographs on request.
John Melish (1771-1822) was the most prominent American mapmaker of his generation, even though his cartographic career lasted only a decade. Melish was born in Scotland; he moved to the West Indies in 1798 and then to the United States in 1806. By 1811, he had settled in Philadelphia and published Travels through the United States of America, in the years 1806 & 1807, and 1809, 1810, & 1811, which was richly illustrated with maps.
Melish created several regional maps of the highest quality, as well as the Military & Topographical Atlas of the United States (Philadelphia, 1813, expanded 1815). The latter work is widely considered to be the finest cartographic publication to come out of the War of 1812.
By far his best-known work is his monumental map of the United States of 1816, Map of the United States with the contiguous British and Spanish Possessions. He began working on the map in 1815 and sent it to Thomas Jefferson for comment in 1816. Jefferson enthusiastically reviewed the map and returned it with his edits. Jefferson later hung an example of the map in the Entrance Hall of Monticello and sent it to associates in Europe.
Melish’s finished product was the first map of the United States to extend to the Pacific Ocean. After its publication in 1816, Melish ensured the map was as up-to-date as possible; it was reissued in 25 known states published between 1816 and 1823. The map captured the then rapidly changing geography of the United States, as well as various boundary disputes, treaties, and expansion.
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