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The item illustrated and described below is sold, but we have another example in stock. To view the example which is currently being offered for sale, click the "View Details" button below.
1845 Joseph Meyer & Carl Radefeld
$ 195.00
Description

An antique map of South Carolina with German-language description based upon H. S. Tanner's map. The map purports to show the routes, railroads, and distances in the state, though it also locates various other features including rivers, canals, and even waterfalls. The names and outlines of the counties at the time are shown. The adjoining states of North Carolina and Georgia are portrayed in part.

Includes a detailed inset map of Charleston showing the layout of this city at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. It names and locates the five main boroughs of the historic district, Cannon, Radeliffe, Wragg, Mazyck, and Hampstead. An inlay to the main map provides the distances to various towns along the Savannah to Augusta and the Savannah to Charleston routes, similar to that included in their map of Georgia. Conversions to other measures of distance are included.

While this work is often referred to as the "German Mitchell," referring the American map maker S. A. Mitchell to whom Tanner sold his plates, the work predates the sale and appears to be a collaborative effort.

Of great interest is the suggestion that the work was published in Hildburghausen, Philadelphia and Paris, although no evidence of a French edition is known to us. The engraving quality on this fine item surpasses its American counterpart.

Joseph Meyer Biography

Joseph Meyer (1796-1856) was a German publisher who released Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, a German-language encyclopedia in print from 1839 to 1984. Meyer was born in Gotha and educated as a merchant in Frankfurt, an important city in the book trade. He traveled in London in 1816 and was back in German in 1820, where he began to invest in textiles and railways. He opened his publishing operation, Bibliographisches Institut, in 1826. His publications each had a serial number, a new innovation at the time. He was best known for his atlases and the Meyers Universum (1833-1861), which featured steel-engravings of the world. The Universum stretched to 17 volumes in 12 languages and was subscribed to by 80,000 people all over Europe. Thanks to his publishing success, Meyer moved the Institut from Gotha to Hildburghausen in 1828. Meyer died in the latter city in 1856.