Detailed early map of the United States with a second map showing the St. Lawrence, published in 1814 by Thomson.
The map of the United States extends west to just beyond the Mississippi and features a host of early transitional borders. Georgia still extends to the Mississippi. Ohio is not yet shown, with the entire old Northwest Territory simply called The Western Territory.
The Mississippi River includes a navigational note from Hutchins explorations. Many Indian names noted throughout Georgia and the Western Territory. West Florida still extends to the Mississippi River. Dozens of forts shown in the west.
The map of the St. Lawrence includes well over 100 place names.
John Thomson (1777-ca. 1840) was a commercial map publisher active in Edinburgh. He specialized in guide books and atlases and is primarily known for his Atlas of Scotland (1832) and the New General Atlas, first published in 1817 and reissued for the next quarter century. The New General Atlas was a commercial success—it was also published in Dublin and London—and it compiled existing geographic knowledge in compelling ways for a wide audience.
His Atlas of Scotland introduced new geographic information and was the first large-scale atlas of Scotland to be organized by county. It provided the most-accurate view of Scotland available before the Clearances. Work on the atlas began in 1820 and led to Thomson’s bankruptcy in 1830 due to the high costs of gathering the latest surveys and reviewing the required materials. Despite the publication of the atlas, Thomson declared bankruptcy again in 1835.