The First Atlas of Orange County, California
Fine example of this rare atlas of Orange County, California, published by Crocker in 1913.
The atlas includes 4 general overview maps of Orange County divided by Judicial Townships, school districts, proposed roads and road districts, and an additional 49 maps of parts of Orange County, including a 4-sheet map of Anaheim City, 4 sheet map of Huntington Beach and an 8 sheet map of Anaheim City.
Published only 24 years after Orange County became a California County, this is the earliest obtainable urbanized treatment of the county, with most of the towns shown very much in their nascency, Several are the earliest extant maps of the regions, while others, such as Laguna Cliffs and Balboa Island offer early images of iconic Southern California enclaves.
The photo sheets, all but one of which are 9 images per page, capture the essence of early Orange County residential and commercial development, including the Ford Auto Dealership in Santa Ana.
Rarity
The atlas is very rare. We were unable to locate another example offered for sale in a dealer catalog or at auction.
OCLC locates 3 examples, as well as two rare variants known in a single example (1912 edition, Huntington Library and 1915 (?) edition, Library of Congress).
The Huntington seems to have a unique unpaginated 1912 example with 126 leaves.
The Library of Congress holds a 1915 (?) example with 64 numbered leaves and 4 unnumbered leaves. We suspect the Library of Congress example is also a 1913 edition of the atlas.