John Reid. "The State of New Hampshire, Compiled chiefly from Actual Surveys. 1796." From The American Atlas.
New York: J. Reid, 1796. 17 1/4 x 11. Engraving by B. Tanner. Very good condition. Wheat & Brun: 189.
An important eighteenth-century, American made map of New Hampshire. This map was issued in Reid's landmark American Atlas in 1796, which was published to accompany William Winterbotham's An historical, geographical, commercial, and philosophical view of the United States of America. John Reid was one of the seminal figures in United States mapmaking prior to 1800. His atlas was one of the first American atlases, and the maps from it represent the best of the nascent American cartographic industry. Not only is this map important for it publisher, but the engraver, Benjamin Tanner, is one of the noted American engravers “of both maps and prints“ from this period through the early years of the following century. This map of New Hampshire is based on the Samuel Lewis map issued just the year before and it has fine detail throughout the state, including rivers, lakes, and some indication of the mountain ranges. One of its interesting features is the note that the White Mountains when seen from the sea look like white clouds hovering over the horizon. Towns and many roads are shown throughout, giving a fascinating image of New Hampshire near the end of the eighteenth century. A great and very scarce American made map of the state.