[Flags of the World] Johnson's New Chart of National Emblems (1868)

[Flags of the World] Johnson's New Chart of National Emblems. New York: A. J. Johnson, 1868. [10368]

Large double-plate hand-colored chart, 46 x 67.5 cm (18 x 26 3/4 inches), clean, suitable for framing. There are some edge-tears in the margins, which will be covered with a mat when you have it framed. Will ship folded at center, as found. Removed from a bound volume, Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas. Good. Engraving.

This flag chart has a printed copyright date of 1868.

There are 7 flags for the United States - the national flag with 35 stars (1863-65), Hawaiian Islands, American Jack, American Commodore's Pennant, American Admiral, American Quarantine, and American Customs. There are two insets with 12 signals for pilots.

Some of the more obscure ones are for Isle of Man, Kingdom of Hanover, Venice, Papal Standard, New Grenada, Konigsberg, Tuscany, Kingdom of Sardinia, Ionia Islands, Lubeck, Sicily, Hamburg, Naples, Spanish Man of War, Prussian Standard, Mecklenburg, Portuquese Coaster, Moorish, Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, Confederate States of America, Malta, Riga, Kingdom of Siam, Cochin China, China Imperial Flag, and many others.

Alvin Jewett Johnson (1827-1884), b. Wallingford, Vermont; school teacher, for some years a book and map seller for J. H. Colton and Co. After some efforts at publishing his own maps, Johnson found success with his Family Atlas, publishing them in Richmond, Virginia and in New York City beginning in 1860. He and his partner Ross C. Browning (1822-1899) evidently purchased rights to Colton's maps, as they appear in the first Johnson's Family Atlas. Johnson updated his maps as cartography became more accurate, and Atlases during the 1860's were bound with maps bearing various dates until that particular map was updated. Johnson and Browning maps were published 1860-1862; Johnson and Ward were years 1862-1866; maps published by A. J. Johnson, A. J. Johnson and Son, A. J. Johnson & Co., date from 1866-1887.

Johnson's hand-colored maps are known for their accuracy to detail and are an important record of internal improvements and westward expansion. All are suitable for framing and valued by collectors.