[ATLASES]. COLTON, George W. (1827-1901). Colton’s Atlas of America. New York: J.H. Colton and Co., 1856.
Large folio (473 x 394 mm). Engraved title, 60 hand-colored maps, including 2 double-page maps (which are shown in the Index as each page being a separate number); numerous full-page and double-page lithographed advertisements in color (some offsetting from ads and maps). (Index and vignette title reinforced at margins). Original gilt- and blind-stamped cloth, rebacked and re-cornered (upper cover sunned, few minor stains and rubbing). Laid in with the original publisher’s prospectus, a printed list issued by Colton showing businesses that have purchased advertisement space, and other material. Provenance: James F. Groff (penciled ownership signature on pastedown).
THE RARE COMMERCIAL EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE, ONE OF 1000 COPIES. This issue was published specifically for Philadelphia businesses to purchase advertising space within, which included some of the most interesting and decorative trade ads of the period. “The publishers, in issuing this edition of their American Atlas, will spare no pains to make it the most attractive and commanding advertising medium ever published in this country” (from the prospectus). The atlas also contains the most desirable Nebraska and Kanzas map that depicts Nebraska stretching from Kansas to the Canadian border, the Kanzas Territory expanding in the west and bordering Utah and New Mexico as there is no Colorado. Early western territorial boundaries are also shown including New Mexico and Utah, which are both depicted in their largest configurations. A more common and less desirable two-volume set (“Colton’s Atlas of the World”) was also issued in 1856 but did not contain the advertisements. This edition is not in Phillips, Rumsey, or Sabin.