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1815 John Thomson
$ 295.00
Description

Striking map of America, including nice geographical detail. The Rocky Mountains and the West are largely based upon Humboldt, pre-dating Lewis & Clark. Early Hudson Bay Company details in Canada, including trading houses. The West is New Albion, with only a hint of the Columbia River and no other known rivers. The Upper California Missions are named. A beautiful example.

John Thomson Biography

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.