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Description

The Thomas W. Streeter copy of this rare edition of Henn, Williams & Co.'s large format map of Iowa.

The evolution of the Henn, Williams & Co. map of Iowa over the first 3 years of its publication provides a remarkable visual depiction of the rapid growth of Iowa and the understanding of its lands, in the years immediately following the arrival of the railroads in the mid-1850s.

The map is hand colored by counties and shows township surveys, towns, railroads, roads, rivers, post offices and other details. This is the only edition of the map which includes Bancroft and Humboldt Counties, which were absorbed by Kossuth County in the 1855 edition of the map. This example also does not yet show the upper reaches of the Des Moines River and its tributarites. The listing of an unnamed "County Seat" in Kossuth County is also of note, along with a group of lakes simply named as "lakes".

An example of the 1855 edition can be seen here: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~221342~5505313:Township-Map-Of-The-State-Of-Iowa

At the top left, a note reflects that Henn and Williams were "Dealers in Land, Land Warrants & Exchange" in Fairfield, Iowa. The present example is exceedingly rare, having been co-published by R.L. Barnes in Philadelphia.

Over the first 3 years of the history of this map, there were many changes. The first edition of the map includes very little information in the northwest part of the state. In the 1855 map (the second edition), there are extensive additions of rivers and other topographical details, as well as the road to St. Paul. Henn & Williams have also added an office in Fort Dodge. There was also apparently an 1851 map by Henn & Williams, but in a different configuration.

In 1856, the map is entirely re-engraved from 1855 edition, with numerous changes and new decorative border. The 1856 edition of the map was co-published by Keen & Lee of Chicago and Charles DeSilver of Philadelphia. Published in Chicago.

The map includes Streeter's notes on the inside cover, in pencil. Streeter was widely regarded as the most important book and map collector of the 20th Century.

Condition Description
Original blue covers with gilt title. A bit of soiling, but a very nice example. TWS notes on the inside cover, in pencil.