The American atlas

New York: John Reid, 1796. First edition of the second atlas published in America, folio, 21 engraved maps including that of Washington, D.C., often missing. This is the first atlas to contain a map of Washington, D.C. Later calf-backed marbled boards, printed paper label on upper cover; the maps are clear with only light occasional spotting; small neat infill on the title page repairing a small hole, the guards neatly renewed. Additionally, there are about 500 words of manuscript notes on the recto of the United States map regarding lakes and waterways in America; 100 words of manuscript notes on the verso of the first sheet of the Massachusetts map (truncated) addressing the battles of Breed's and Bunker Hill (these rather faded); and manuscript entries on the verso of the second sheet of the Virginia map giving distances from New Orleans to 12 U.S. locations; also, text on the recto of the first sheet of the Kentucky map giving 29 stops and distances from Fort Pitt to the Mississippi; manuscript on the verso of the second sheet of the Kentucky map listing the counties of that state; a brief and barely legible note in the upper corner of the D.C. map regarding the breadth of streets, and, tipped onto the final tab in the book, identifications of 17 locations on the D.C. map (most of the corresponding marks on the map itself have faded away). These notes are almost certainly by James Minot whose signature appears in the upper corner of the title page, and on the last page of the atlas. James Minot was one of the Commissioners from Massachusetts Bay, who, together with representatives from New York and Connecticut, directed Major General William Johnson's campaign against the French in the French & Indian War. Designed to accompany Winterbotham's An Historical, Geographical, Commercial, and Philosophical View of the American United States (New York, 1796). The continental maps, the general map of the United States, and the maps of Kentucky and Washington, D.C. are from the London edition of Winterbotham's work; the rest of the maps (New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware & Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and the West Indies), are original to this edition. Howes R-170: "Also sold separately ... The second purely American atlas of the United States, preceded only by Carey's 1795 atlas." Phillips 1216 and 1366; Sabin 69016; Streeter 77. (Inventory #: 63436)