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Young, J. H., engraver.

American Atlas [cover title].

[Philadelphia:] John Grigg, [1829]. 32mo (4.25” x 3”), full original red morocco, with flap at fore-edge, flap gilt-stamped “American Atlas John Grigg.” Printed “index” or contents leaf affixed to inside of front cover, 14 folding maps, hand-colored engravings, each approx. 9.25” x 7.75” plus margins. CONDITION: Good, 1.5” x 1.25” loss to leather on front cover where strap for securing flap would have been attached, top edge of rear cover chewed with small corresponding losses to map 14, maps 1 and 6 detached, map 7 with a few small ink spots on verso, one with some associated corruption slightly affecting map, some relatively small separations at folds, and some crinkling, other maps with occasional smaller separations along folds and occasional foxing.

A rare and very appealing pocket atlas consisting of fourteen maps of North and South American subjects.

All of the maps included here originally appeared along with twenty-six other maps in Anthony Finley’s New General Atlas The Five Great Divisions of the Globe, which accompanied his edition of Malte-Brun’s Universal Geography (1827–29). Philadelphia publisher John Grigg re-published Finley’s atlas in 1829 under the same title as Grigg’s American School Atlas, Exhibiting the Different Grand Divisions of the Globe. An enterprising and very successful publisher, Grigg sought yet another market for these maps, issuing this handy “American Atlas.” 

The maps are stamped 1–14 (numbers appear in the upper-right corners of the versos of the folded maps) but retain their original plate numbers (xxvii–xl) as well. The contents include: 

Map 1 (plate XXVII): North America (shows Alaska & western Canada as Russian possessions, “New Wales” identified in Canada)

Map 2 (plate XXVIII): British America (hand-colored by province or territory in entirety, includes Upper & Lower Canada divided into districts, also New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, & Newfoundland, plus Rupert’s Land, & New South Wales) 

Map 3 (plate XXX): United States (shows states & territory east of Mississippi & Missouri & Oregon Territories west of the Mississippi, “boundary between United States & Russia settled by convention, April 5, 1824”) 

Map 4 (plate XXX): New England states 

Map 5 (plate XXXI): The middle states, Maryland & Virginia

Map 6 (plate XXXII): N. & S. Carolina & Georgia & Florida 

Map 7 (plate XXXII: Alabama, Mississippi, & Arkansas Ter. 

Map 8 (plate XXIV): Western states & territories (includes Michigan Territory, Northwest Territory (present day Wisconsin) attached to Mich., Missouri Territory, & Missouri) 

Map 9 (plate XXXV): Mexico & Guatemala (shows “Texas or New Estremadura,” “New Albion” [present day northern California], New California, and “Old California” [Baja], etc.) 

Map 10 (plate XXXVI: West Indies 

Map 11 (XXXVII): South America (identifies Colombia, Guiana, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, United Provinces, Chile, Patagonia) 

Map 12 (plate XXXVIII): Guiana (includes Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, British Guianas) 

Map 13 (plate XXXIX): Brazil, Bolivia & Peru 

Map 14 (plate XL): United Provinces, Chili, & Patagonia

The map of Mexico is particularly of interest, as “Texas or New Estremadura” is shown in an early form, just a few years before the Texas Revolution (1835–36).

Philadelphia engraver James Hamilton Young (fl. 1817–1866), who worked with William Kneass and George Delleker, produced a large number of maps over the course of his long career. These include Charles Varlés Map of the United States partly from new surveys (Baltimore, 1817); Moses Greenleaf’s Map of the State of Maine (Portland, 1829); Map of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island (Philadelphia, S. A. Mitchell 1831); The Tourist’s Pocket Map of Michigan (Philadelphia, S. A. Mitchell, 1834); and many others.

As noted in his obituary in the New York Times, John Grigg (1792–1864) arrived in Philadelphia in 1816, where he found employment as a clerk for bookseller and publisher Benjamin Warner “and so gained the confidence of Warner, that the latter, who died soon afterward, expressed in his will that John Grigg should continue the extensive business.” Subsequently, “Mr. Grigg…opened a store in Fourth-Street, above Market, and began the book business on his own account.” Regarding Grigg’s store, a notice on its 1824 opening in the National Gazette and Literary Register announced that “the Subscriber, who has had the management and disposal of the late Benjamin Warner’s stock, has commenced the book and stationary business…and now offers for sale, at very reduced prices, an extensive stock of Books and Stationary, consisting of…an extensive variety of the latest and most approved editions of English, Latin, and French School Books,” among other paper, graphite, and ink-based offerings. The obituary further notes that through his “economy, diligence, and sound business tact” Grigg “created a trade that reached to all parts of the Union, and realized him a large fortune. He continued at the head of the firm of Grigg, Elliot & Co., until 1850, when he withdrew and was succeeded by Joshua B. Lippincott, who purchased…Grigg and Elliott, and with the junior members…established the present house of J. B. Lippincott & Co. During the latter years of his life, Mr. Grigg was engaged in the business of a private banker. In his personal character and habits he was remarkable for energy, sound practical sense, and sterling honesty…In short, Mr. Grigg was eminently a self-made man, and his life furnishes an example worthy of the study and emulation of the rising generation.”

OCLC records just six copies, at the Clements Library, the University of Kentucky, the San Jacinto Museum of History, the Library of Congress, the Newberry Library, and the Boston Public Library.

Item #7599

Price: $3,500.00

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