Tanner, Henry S. “United States.”

Henry S. Tanner.  “United States.”  From H.S. Tanner’s New Universal Atlas.

Philadelphia: H.S. Tanner, [1839]-1841.  14 7/8 x 11 5/8.  Engraving.  Full original hand coloring.  Very good condition. 

An excellent map of the United States by the great American cartographer, Henry Schenck Tanner.  In 1816, Henry, his brother Benjamin, John Vallance and Francis Kearny formed an engraving firm in Philadelphia.  Having had experience at map engraving through his work with John Melish, Tanner conceived of the idea of compiling and publishing an American Atlas, which was begun in 1819 by Tanner, Vallance, Kearny & Co..  Soon Tanner took over the project on his own, and thus began his career as cartographic publisher.  The American Atlas was a huge success, and this inspired Tanner to produce his Universal Atlas, of more manageable size.  This atlas contained excellent maps of all parts of the world.  All details are clearly presented, and these include towns, rivers, mountains, and political boundaries.  In this map, Tanner shows the United States as it appeared just before the middle of the nineteenth century.  This was a period of great development and change and Tanner’s map illustrates this nicely.  Besides the political information of the newly formed states and territories to the east and just across the Mississippi, Tanner provides fascinating details of the transportation networks, with indicates of roads, railroads and canals.  In 1841, Carey & Hart issued an edition of the atlas, and the maps were later purchased by S. Augustus Mitchell, and then Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co..  Maps from the early Tanner edition are very rare and this is a fine example.