[MAP] Johnson's South America (c. 1861)

[MAP] Johnson's South America. New York: Johnson and Browning, c. 1861. [10389]

Large double-plate hand-colored map, 46 x 67.5 cm (18 x 26 3/4 inches), suitable for framing. There is a short repair at the left edge of the fold, repaired from the back side. Will ship folded at center, as found. Removed from a bound volume, Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas. Very good. 

This map shows roads, rivers, counties, and locales. We think it is based upon an older H. H. Colton map.  The countries and districts are hand-painted in colors. Patagonia appears to be its own territory or country on this map. It has the Gulf of Mexico and Florida at the top and South Sheltand at the bottom. The routes of explorers with the date of exploration are marked out in the seas. The Johnson and Browning imprint dates this map between 1860 and 1862. There is an inset illustration of Cape Horn.

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.