[MAP] Johnson's Georgetown and the City of Washington, the Capitol of the United States of America

[MAP] Johnson's Georgetown and the City of Washington, the Capitol of the United States of America. New York: Johnson and Browning, c. 1861. [10401]

Large hand-colored map, 45.7 x 36 cm (18 x 14 inches), clean, suitable for framing. There is a short marginal repair on the backside of the map, which will be matted out when framed. Removed from a bound volume, Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas. Very good. 

This map shows the roads, public buildings, monuments, with all of the blocks numbered. There are inset illustrations of the Smithsonian Institution, the Capitol, and of the Washington Monument. The Johnson and Browning imprint dates this map between 1860 and 1862. This is an historic map of Washington, D.C. made at the beginning of the American Civil War.

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.