Baldwin & Thomas "A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States; Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy"

Thomas Baldwin and J. Thomas, M.D. A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States; Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy.

Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854. Quarto. Original leather binding. 

With map by Wellington Williams.  “A New Map of the United States upon which are delineated its vast works of internal communications, Routes across the Continent &c. Showing Also Canada and the Island Of Cuba.”  25 1/4 x 29 3/4.  Lithograph on bank note paper.  Original hand color.  Map mounted to inside front cover.  With folds as originally issued. Some browning along folds as to be expected.  1 x ¼ hole in Georgia filled and in-painted.  Several small tears along folds repaired with archival tape.  Else, very good condition. 

A bright and highly detailed map of the United States from the Lippincott, Grambo & Co.’s Gazetteer of 1854.  The map shows the country from the Atlantic Ocean to the middle of Texas and the Nebraska Territory, with an inset of the western parts of the United States entitled “Map of California, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah &c.” The map is impressively detailed, showing roads, canals, and railroad lines throughout the country. Even though the inset of the western parts is on a reduced scale, it is praised by Carl Wheat for its “much up-to-date information” from Frémont, Marcy, Wilkes, Emory, Abert, Johnston, Simpson, Whiting and others. The map also contains three other insets, one of Cuba, one of the city and harbor of Havana, and the last showing the Niagara peninsula. 1853-54 was a time of considerable change in the country and one cannot find a better snap-shot of the United States than this book and map

This gazetteer includes entries for an impressive number of American geographical features. The appendixes include tables of various religions and churches, American agriculture, and colleges and schools. Inserted in the volume is a bright and highly detailed map of the United States.

Born in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Thomas Baldwin (1807- 1887) was a Philadelphia school teacher and cartographer. His cousin, Joseph Thomas (b. Cayuga County, New York 1811 - d. Philadelphia 1891), was educated at Yale and Rensselaer Polytechnic, practiced medicine in Philadelphia, and taught Latin and Greek at Haverford College.  The Quaker cousins collaborated on this book, as well as on several editions of a “pronouncing” gazetteer.  Dr. Thomas also published a medical dictionary and a pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology.