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The Cerographic Atlas of the United States. No. 3.
New York: Sidney E. Morse & Company, 1845. Folio (18.25” x 15”), printed beige wrappers. 12 single-page cerographic engravings. Early ownership inscription in ink at top right of front wrapper. CONDITION: Good, some creasing and short tears to edges of wrappers and sheets. The final part of the original cerographic atlas, a rare and unique work containing maps of US states, western territories, and parts of Mexico on the eve of the Mexican-American War. Cerography was invented by newspaper publisher Sidney Edwards Morse (1794–1871) in the late 1830s while he was serving as head of the New-York Observer. Morse’s father was Jedediah Morse (1761–1826), a geographer and preacher who published the first geography textbook in the US, earning him the moniker “the father of American geography.” His brother Samuel Morse (1791–1872) was a painter and telegraphy pioneer, best known for inventing Morse code. Samuel Breese, listed as a collaborator on the atlas, appears to have been a cousin of Morse. Other cerographic works by Morse include Morse’s North American Atlas (1845) and A System of Geography for the Use of Schools (1845), including numerous maps of US states and cities from the same period. Morse’s cerographic process involved engraving an image into a wax layer (“cera” being Latin for wax), which was then transferred onto a durable printing plate. Morse comments that the process blends elements of lithography, copperplate, and woodblock printing, enabling the production of high-quality maps at a significantly lower cost. The Cerographic Atlas No 3. is the third installment, following parts No. 1 (published 1842) and No. 2 (1843), bearing the same title. The compiled work was republished in 1845 as Morse’s North American Atlas, which contains some alterations and substitutions to the original maps, along with added color. The maps in this atlas use both the Washington and Greenwich meridians. They show counties, cities, railroads, roads, canals, and “slackwater navigation.” Native American tribes are labeled in maps showing the American West. The following states and territories appear in order: Pennsylvania (including insets for Philadelphia and the northeastern coal region); Kentucky & Tennessee; Missouri; Arkansas; North Carolina; South Carolina; Indiana; Illinois; Michigan; Iowa & Wisconsin (extending to cover area that includes present-day Minnesota, “from the map of J.N. Nicollet”); Texas (the eastern portion); and “the Californias” (including much of the Southwest, “by T.J. Farnham”). The California map includes notable expedition routes connecting the U.S. and Mexico, showing the region just one year before the onset of the Mexican-American war, and three years before the U.S. gained the territory in the Mexican Cession. Several states and territories are divided into a grid pattern, indicating they were partitioned using the Public Land Survey System. Advertisements for various works published by Harper & Brothers appear on the inside of the wrappers. The back wrapper advertises Morse’s School Geography and the forthcoming Morse’s Cerographic Maps, intended as “a Universal Atlas.” Sidney E. Morse & Co. is listed as the publisher, indicating it was a private initiative closely related to Morse’s newspaper, the New-York Observer (1829–1912), a Presbyterian publication. The Observer covered both religious and secular topics, often taking conservative stances on social issues—prior to the Civil War it opposed abolition. After the war, the Observer adopted a more pan-Protestant tone and reached its peak influence, before switching to a smaller format in the 1890s. This atlas is styled as a “supplement to the New-York Observer,” with Morse writing in the publisher’s note that he intends to produce “17,000 copies of the three Atlases, which we are to send to our subscribers,” although it is unlikely this many were ever produced owing to publishing setbacks. OCLC records four copies of the third part (No. 3) of The Cerographic Atlas at UW Milwaukee, the Huntington Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and AAS. REFERENCES: Rumsey 4180; “Sidney E. Morse” at Litchfield Historical Society online; “New-York Observer (New-York) 1829-1912 [Microfilm Reel]” at Library of Congress online.
Item #6569
Price: $750.00
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