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Stephen F. Austin. Genl. Austins Map of Texas with Parts of the Adjoining States....
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Description
The Exceedingly Scarce 1846 Austin Map of Texas
Stephen F. Austin. Genl. Austins Map of Texas with
Parts of the Adjoining States. Compiled by Stephen F.
Austin. Philadelphia: H. S. Tanner, 1846.Hand-colored engraved folding map in pale blue, lavender, and yellow wash. Image size: 29.75" x 23.5" (760 x 600 mm); sheet size: 30" x 24.25" (762 x 619 mm). Float-mounted and window-matted in a handsome wooden gilt frame.
The exceedingly scarce 1846 edition of Stephen F. Austin's iconic map, the final edition to contain geographical revisions and the most complete version of Austin's legendary map.
Austin's Map of Texas occupies an important place in American (and Texan) history and the progress of westward expansion. As the first broadly accurate map of Texas to be published, it represents a monumental scientific achievement. First issued prior to Texan Independence, it is generally regarded as the single most important map in Texas history. The 1846 issue of Austin's landmark map of Texas was the first and only edition issued after Texas statehood. The first printing of Austin's map was in 1830, and due to its immense demand by 1840 seven different versions of the map had appeared. The present version represents the culmination of the evolution of this pivotal map, and became even more important at the outset of the Mexican-American War in 1846. Streeter (1363) does not note this pocket map version, but he records the presence of this version of the map in Francis Moore's Map and Description of Texas... (Philadelphia, 1850).
Austin's map is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative and richly detailed primary documents recording the history of Texas. While Austin's map appeared in several progressively updated editions, the map was very popular and often heavily used, such that all editions of the map are now very rare.
"Few early maps of the American West have the importance, or romance, of Stephen F. Austin's Map of Texas with Parts of the Adjoining States... All editions are so rare and sought-after that Austin's map commands a higher price in the market place than any other nineteenth-century American map. This is largely attributable to the great interest Texans have always exhibited for their state and history. At the time the map was published, the Anglo settlements in Texas were the vanguard of the American Western movement; the excellence of Austin's map makes it one of the most important maps of Texas-not only for the state's history, but also for documenting the early trans-Mississippi West" (Cohen).
Austin's map embraces the developed expanse of Texas, first published prior to its independence from Mexico. As Austin intended the map to showcase Texas to new settlers, the landscape is shown to be as inviting as possible. In early editions, the various colonial grants, finely distinguished by different colors, expand along courses of the rivers and the Gulf Coast, while thriving towns are connected by a burgeoning network of roads. The progress of modern development is shown to march across the Texan plains. To the east and west, beyond the realm of the settlement, there extends an exotic country of "Wild Horses and Cattle" and the domains of the fearsome Comanche nation. Over the course of the various states of the map, Texas evolves from the earliest Colonies and Grants to its condition at the time of its admission to the United States.
Condition: Creased where formerly folded, light offsetting, a few tiny splits or pinholes at fold intersections, apparently a few discreet repairs at separations and margin edges. Originally issued in a pocket case (not present).
References: Bryan & Hanak, Texas in Maps, pp.10-12; Cohen, Mapping the West, pp.110-3, plate 21 (1830 ed.); Eberstadt, Texas, 162:43 (1840 ed.); Fifty Texas Rarities, no.10 (1830 ed.); Hayes, Historical Atlas of the American West, pp.80-83, map 151 (1830 ed.); Howes A-404 (1830, 1836 & 1837 eds.); Martin, "Maps of an Empresario: Austin's contribution to the Cartography of Texas," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol.85 (July, 1981-April, 1982), pp.317-400; Martin & Martin, Maps of Texas & the Southwest, pp.121-3 & plate 29 (1830 ed.); Schwartz & Ehrenberg, Mapping of America, p.253, plate 154 (1830 ed.); Streeter, Bibliography of Texas, part III, vol.1, not recorded.
Auction Info
2023 December 2 The Ted Lusher Texas History Collection, Part One Signature® Auction #6281 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2023
2nd
Saturday
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