1818 John Melish Map of the United States of America.

MELISH, John. Engraved by Sam Harrison.

Item Number: 90441

Philadelphia: Murray Draper Fairman and Co, 1818.

Rare first edition map of the United States of America based on the of one of the earliest U.S. mapmakers John Melish. The map displays a view extending west to the Rocky Mountains, including a detailed view of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers based on the expeditions of Lewis & Clark, Pike and Melish with hand-colored borders. Matted and framed, the entire piece measures 24.5 inches by 21.25 inches. Rare and handsomely presented.

Scottish mapmaker John Melish produced some of the earliest maps of the United States and in 1816 created the first map of the United States extending to the Pacific Ocean. Between 1806 and 1811, Melish made several trips to the United States, and in 1812 published Travels through the United States of America, in the years 1806 & 1807, and 1809, 1810, & 1811 documenting his voyages to the US with copious maps. He soon started his own map publishing company in Philadelphia which was the first of its kind; his maps fulfilled a contemporary need for accurate cartography. Melish's important 1816 Map of the United States with the contiguous British and Spanish Possessions was the first map to depict the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, thus implicitly staking a larger claim for the US than existed at that time.