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Description

Extremely rare 1859 variant edition of the Eastern Part of St. George's Sound, form the US Coast Survey.

The present example reads "Electrotype copy no. 1 by G. Mathiot, U.S.C.S."

The map covers James Island, Crooked River, Dog Island and the eastern part of St. George Island.

We note below two known editions of the chart. The present example seems to be a later variant of the 1859 edition, which among other things adds the name "James I."

OCLC locates only 1 example of this edition of the map (State Library of Florida) and 1 example of the 1858 edition (State Library of Florida).

Condition Description
Minor discoloration along right side and evidence of a fold break where the oversized chart was folded once near the inner neat line, which have been repaired using archival materials.
United States Coast Survey Biography

The United States Office of the Coast Survey began in 1807, when Thomas Jefferson founded the Survey of the Coast. However, the fledgling office was plagued by the War of 1812 and disagreements over whether it should be civilian or military controlled. The entity was re-founded in 1832 with Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler as its superintendent. Although a civilian agency, many military officers served the office; army officers tended to perform the topographic surveys, while naval officers conducted the hydrographic work.

The Survey’s history was greatly affected by larger events in American history. During the Civil War, while the agency was led by Alexander Dallas Bache (Benjamin Franklin’s grandson), the Survey provided the Union army with charts. Survey personnel accompanied blockading squadrons in the field, making new charts in the process.

After the Civil War, as the country was settled, the Coast Survey sent parties to make new maps, employing scientists and naturalists like John Muir and Louis Agassiz in the process. By 1926, the Survey expanded their purview further to include aeronautical charts. During the Great Depression, the Coast Survey employed over 10,000 people and in the Second World War the office oversaw the production of 100 million maps for the Allies. Since 1970, the Coastal and Geodetic Survey has formed part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and it is still producing navigational products and services today.