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MAP #: 342M5

CARTOGRAPHER : MORSE, SIDNEY E. AND BREESE, SAMUEL

DATE: 1842

SHORT TITLE : MARYLAND AND DELAWARE

REMAINING TITLE & ID : (CENTER LEFT). INSET OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (BOTTOM LEFT, BELOW TITLE, WITH SCALE OF 4.4 CM. = 5 MILES). SCALE OF MILES (CENTER BOTTOM, 4 CM. = 30 MILES). ALTITUDE PROFILES OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL AND THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD ROUTE (ACROSS TOP OF THE MAP). TABLE OF EXPLANATION OF SYMBOLS (ABOVE SCALE). THE MAP EXTENDS THROUGH THE LATITUDE BORDERS ON THE RIGHT AND LEFT SIDES. ON THE REVERSE SIDE IS A MAP ENTITLED "VIRGINIA". LONGITUDE EAST AND WEST FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. (BOTTOM BORDER) AND WEST FROM GREENWICH (TOP BORDER). LATITUDE (RIGHT AND LEFT BORDERS).

DATE OF PUBLICATION : S1842-5
PLACE OF PUBLICATION : NEW YORK
PUBLISHER : S.E. MORSE & CO.
LANGUAGE(S) : EN
SIZE (HEIGHT X WIDTH) : 27.2 X 35.3 CM.
SIZE - OTHER DATA : ? X ? CM. OM
SCALE - (RF) 1: : 1,200,000
SCALE - OTHER DATA : 1:185,000 (INSET OF WASHINGTON, D.C.)
LIB. OF CONGRESS # : -
Md. HALL OF RECORDS # 1 : MSA SC1399-124 (MARYLAND AND DELAWARE MAP)
# 2 : MSA SC1399-125 (VIRGINIA MAP)
HUNTINGFIELD ACQ. # 1 : A018-3D (MARYLAND AND DELAWARE MAP)
# 2 : A018-3D (VIRGINIA MAP)
REGION CATEGORY : MAP ON WHICH THE MD/CHESAPEAKE AREA IS ONE MAIN FOCUS (1)
SPECIAL CATEGORY(IES) :
# SHEETS TO MAP : 1
MAP ORIENTATION : N IS AT THE TOP OF THE MAP.
RELIEF SHOWN ? : YES
HYDROGRAPHIC DATA : NONE.
CARTOUCHE : NONE (1)
BORDER : SIMPLE SUBDIVISIONAL FUNCTIONAL (6)
PRIME MERIDIAN(S) : WASHINGTON AND GREENWICH (8)
SEE ALSO MAP #s : -
BEST INFO SOURCE : RISTOW, WOODWARD, SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, AND PHILLIPS ATLASES ARE ALL HELPFUL.
DESCRIPTION : THIS IS MAP # 13 OF 32 IN MORSE & BREESE'S THE CEROGRAPHIC ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES, FOL., NEW YORK: S.E. MORSE & CO., 1842. THE MAP SHOWS CANALS, RAILROADS, AND COUNTIES IN THE TWO STATES AND HAS AN INSET PLAN OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. ALTITUDE PROFILES ARE SHOWN ACROSS THE TOP OF THE MAP FOR THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD ROUTE AND THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL. MOUNTAINS ARE SHOWN SYMBOLICALLY AND THE WATER AREAS ARE ALL SHADED WITH PARALLEL HORIZONTAL LINES.

SIDNEY MORSE WAS THE SON OF JEDIDIAH MORSE, THE COMPILER AND PUBLISHER OF GEOGRAPHY BOOKS BETWEEN 1784 AND 1825. SIDNEY AND HIS YOUNGER BROTHER RICHARD CARY MORSE FOUNDED A WEEKLY RELIGIOUS JOURNAL THE NEW-YORK OBSERVER, WHICH SIDNEY EDITED AND PUBLISHED UNTIL 1858. TOGETHER WITH HENRY A. MUNSON, SIDNEY BETWEEN 1834 AND 1839 INVENTED CEROGRAPHY, OR WAX ENGRAVING, A NEW PROCESS FOR REPRODUCING AND PRINTING MAPS. THIS DEVELOPMENT WAS AN IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH IN COMMERCIAL MAP AND ATLAS PRODUCTION IN THE U.S. AND NEARLY THREE-QUARTERS OF ALL COMMERCIAL ATLASES FROM 1842 TO 1850 USED THE WAX ENGRAVING PROCESS, ACCORDING TO DAVID WOODWARD. THERE WERE TWO REASONS FOR ITS WIDESPREAD POPULARITY: FIRST, THE RELIEF-PRINT PLATE RESULTING FROM THE PROCESS COULD BE PRINTED ON LETTERPRESS PRINTERS; SECOND, THIS MEDIUM PERMITTED THE INSERTION OF LETTERPRESS TYPE IN THE WAX RATHER THAN REQUIRING THAT EACH LETTER OR FIGURE BE ENGRAVED BY HAND.

THE WAX ENGRAVING PROCESS INVOLVES ENGRAVING ON WAX, THEN COATING THE WAX WITH AN ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL AND ELECTROPLATING ONTO THE WAXED AND COATED PLATE AND PRINTING FROM THE PLATE. CEROGRAPHY WAS FASTER AND LESS EXPENSIVE THAN COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING, BUT THE MAPS IT PRODUCED WERE CONSIDERABLY INFERIOR IN QUALITY AND APPEARANCE AND HAD A DULL MECHANICAL LOOK THAT PERSISTED IN PRIVATELY PRODUCED AMERICAN MAPS INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.

RISTOW NOTES THAT MORSE COLLABORATED WITH SAMUEL BREESE TO PUBLICIZE CEROGRAPHY AND COMPILED BETWEEN 1839 AND 1845 A SERIES OF THIRTY TWO MAPS, WHICH WERE ISSUED AS SUPPLEMENTS TO THE NEW- YORK OBSERVER. THESE MAPS WERE ASSEMBLED TO FORM THE CEROGRAPHIC ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES, 32 MAPS, FOL., NEW YORK: S.E. MORSE & CO., 1842, THE FIRST ATLAS PRODUCED BY CEROGRAPHY. RISTOW CONTINUES THAT THE MAPS WERE UNCOLORED AND UNDISTINGUISHED IN APPEARANCE AND WERE PRINTED ON POOR QUALAITY SOFT PAPER, WHICH DETERIORIATES WITH TIME. CONSEQUENTLY FEW OF THE COMPLETE ATLASES HAVE SURVIVED.

THE MAPS IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COPY OF THE ATLAS ARE DATED FROM 1841 TO 1845. THE MARYLAND AND DELAWARE MAP DESCRIBED HEREIN IS # 13 AND THE VIRGINIA MAP ON THE REVERSE SIDE IS # 14. THESE ARE THE SAME MAPS THAT WERE IN MORSE & BREESE'S NORTH AMERICAN ATLAS, 36 COL. MAPS, FOL., NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, 1842- [45]. THE MAPS IN THAT ATLAS WERE IN COLOR. IN THAT PUBLICATION, THEY WERE MAPS 14 AND 15 RESPECTIVELY.

DATA IS FROM RISTOW, SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, WOODWARD, PHILLIPS ATLASES, AND FROM THE COPY OF THE MAPS IN THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION.

EDITION & STATE INFO : THERE IS ONLY A SINGLE EDITION OF THE MAP KNOWN TO THE WRITER. HOWEVER, THE COPY IN THE CEROGRAPHIC ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES, FOL., 32 MAPS, NEW YORK: S.E. MORSE & CO., 1842 IS IN BLACK AND WHITE. THE ONE IN MORSE & BREESE'S NORTH AMERICAN ATLAS, 36 COL. MAPS, FOL., NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, 1842-[45] WERE IN COLOR.

HFC OWNERSHIP DATA : THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION HAS A GOOD BLACK AND WHITE COPY OF THIS MAP WITH WIDE MARGINS WITH AN ACQ. # OF A018-3D AND A MDHR # OF MSA SC1399-124 FOR THE MARYLAND AND DELAWARE MAP AND MSA SC1399-125 FOR THE VIRGINIA MAP ON THE REVERSE SIDE.

BIBLIGRAPHICAL REFS. : RISTOW, WALTER W., AMERICAN MAPS AND MAPMAKERS. COMMERCIAL CARTOGRAPHY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, DETROIT: WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1985, 154; SCHWARTZ, SEYMOUR I. & RALPH E. EHRENBERG, THE MAPPING OF AMERICA, NEW YORK: HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC., 1980, 265; PHILLIPS, PHILIP LEE, A LIST OF GEOGRAPHICAL ATLASES IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AMSTERDAM: THEATRVM ORBIS TERRARVM, LTD, 1971 REPRINT OF A 1909 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PUBLICATION, I, # 1383, MAPS 13 AND 14 (CEROGRAPHIC ATLAS), # 1228, MAPS 14 AND 15 (NORTH AMERICAN ATLAS); WOODWARD, DAVID, THE ALL AMERICAN MAP, CHICAGO: NEWBERRY LIBRARY.

March 1, 1993


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