Price: $3,250.00
SKU: 100928
ARTIST: James Monteiith
PUBLISHER: Published by A.S. Barnes & Co., New York.
MEDIUM: Stone engraving
DATE: 1881.
EDITION SIZE: Sheet size 11 3/4 x 18 1/4" (29.5 x 46.6 cm)
DESCRIPTION: A rare separately published pocket map of Montana printed eight years prior to statehood.<br><br> Title along upper edge: Map of Montana, from Monteith’s Comprehensive Geography.<br><br> This map shows the Territory with eleven counties with the proposed tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad that had been charted through it. Also shows the spur line to Yellowstone National Park. Cartographically, the map gives some contours for mountains, shows and identifies rivers, creeks and streams. Dozens of forts are shown as well as towns and cities. Native American “agency’s” are also noted.<br><br> The map also gives statistical information for each county. At the time Deer Lodge county had the largest population which was given at 8,876. It also gives the number of bushels of wheat, oats and barley produced by each county.<br><br> The map folding into the original publisher's 8vo format gilt-blocked cloth covers. On the interior side of the back cover are two pasted labels. One describes the mining belt in the eastern portion of the state. The other printed table of voting precincts with ink annotation "Beaverhead Co., M.T."<br><br> Along the upper edge is a series of time clocks noting the time differences using London as a starting point. This is before the standardization of the 24 hour worldwide time zone system. “When it is noon at London, it is about 7 A.M. at New York; 6 A.M at St. Louis; 5 A.M. under the meridian which passes near Glendive; 4:38 A.M. under which it passes near Fort Benton; and 4:32 A.M. at Helena.”<br><br> James Monteith (1831–1890) has been largely forgotten as an American cartographer, but his four-decade career demonstrated a surprisingly innovative and sophisticated approach to educating map users about comparative spatial relationships. Monteith’s geography textbooks were published widely in the United States from the late 1850s until well after his death, and they offered some of the most readily available reference maps in the country in the late nineteenth century. However, Monteith’s work has gone underappreciated, possibly because his books targeted school-aged audiences and his maps did not attempt to provide comprehensive detail. He was fundamentally an educator and publisher of teaching materials: he was not trying to create the latest sophisticated reference atlas. Indeed, it is not the maps themselves that make Monteith’s work so interesting, but rather the way he used comparative data, especially in the margins of those maps to amplify the map reader’s understanding of the cartographic story on the page. Monteith’s work evolved steadily over his career, and his later maps are complex works that invite continued study and generate new insights for the map reader. Andrew Rhodes.<br><br> Alfred Smith Barnes published books aimed at the educational market including mathematic texts by Charles Davies and historical texts by Emma Willard, a joint venture between the three. In 1840, Barnes moved to Philadelphia, where he began building his own publishing company, which was finally established as A.S. Barnes & Co. in New York City in 1865.<br><br> There is basically nothing known about Jacob Medary, He was a clerk in the Montana Territory surveyors office. He likely supplied geologic information to Monteith, who kindly gave him credit.<br><br> The Montana State library has a very similar map but with a different title along the upper edge. This cataloger could not locate another identical example of the map.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CONDITION: Very good condition save for small piece of tape along left edge in margin. Occasional minor split along fold line. Printed in color.
REFERENCE:
Login / Register
Basket
