[MAP] Johnson's Africa (c. 1861)

[MAP] Johnson's Africa. New York: Johnson and Browning, c. 1861. [10398]

Large double-plate hand-colored map, 46 x 67.5 cm (18 x 26 3/4 inches), clean, suitable for framing. There is a repair in the margin at the left edge of the fold on the front of the map. This is 1 x 2 inches in size and can be seen as it covers the border; some of it will be covered by the mat when you have it framed. This area is shown in one of the close-up photos. There are some reinforced areas on the back side of the fold and margins, not noticeable from the front. Priced to reflect the repairs. Will ship folded at center, as found. Removed from a bound volume, Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas. Good.

This map shows roads, railroads, rivers, counties, sea & explorer routes, and locales. The countries and districts are hand-painted in colors. There are inset illustrations of the Cape Town and Table Mount, Port Natal, and of the Island of St. Helena. Many central areas of this continent remain completely unexplored.

This map was printed about ten years before Henry Morton Stanley began his search for Dr. Livingstone. 

The Johnson and Browning imprint dates this map between 1860 and 1862. 

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.