Carey, Henry Charles, and Isaac Lea (publishers):

$12,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

A COMPLETE HISTORICAL, CHRONOLOGICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL AMERICAN ATLAS, BEING A GUIDE TO THE HISTORY OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND THE WEST INDIES: EXHIBITING AN ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY, ... A handsome atlas of the Americas, with individual color maps of each state in the Union, including a seminal map of the West by Stephen H. Long. At the time of publication this was the best and most detailed atlas to be produced in the United States, with substantial historical background text accompanying each map. Fielding Lucas, the major Baltimore printer, was the principal engraver.Among the most noted maps in the atlas is Major Stephen H. Long's "Map of Arkansa and other Territories of the United States." That map, which depicts the Missouri basin between Nashville in the east, the Mandan villages in the north, and the Rocky Mountains in the west, was based on the surveys conducted by Long on his expeditions of 1819 and 1820. The map published in Carey & Lea's atlas preceded the official account of that expedition by expedition botanist Edwin James, which includes a smaller map with similar detail, titled "Country drained by the Mississippi Western Section." Carey & Lea's 1823 publication of James' Account perhaps explains the prior inclusion of this map with Long expedition information in their atlas.On this famous map is the printed legend, which would perpetuate a myth for many years to come, identifying the high plains as the "Great American Desert." Carey & Lea's atl

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