[MAP] c. 1860 Johnson's Western Hemisphere & Johnson's Eastern Hemisphere

Johnson's Western Hemisphere & Johnson's Eastern Hemisphere. Johnson & Browning, ca. 1860. [10365]

Large double-plate hand-colored map, 46 x 67.5 cm (18 x 26 3/4 inches), some incidental spotting, suitable for framing. Will ship folded at center, as found. Good. Engraving. 

This is an example of Johnson & Browning's use of a map first published by J. H. Colton & Co. and copyrighted by Colton in 1855. It has Alaska as a Russian Possession, the Hawaiian Islands as the Sandwich Islands, large swaths of central Africa "unexplored," Palestine as part of Turkey, &c.

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.