HAND-COLORED 1846 MITCHELL MAP, INCLUDING TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA, FROM EARLY IN THE MEXICAN WAR, WITH DETAILS OF BATTLES

MITCHELL, Samuel Augustus. Map of Mexico, Including Yucatan & Upper California. Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1846. 16mo, original full green morocco pocket case, ornately-blocked and gilt-lettered, large folding lithographic map, measuring 26 inches by 18 inches. Handsomely with pocket case showing from both sides, entire piece measures 24 by 32 inches. $17,500.

Exceptionally fine hand-colored copy of one of the most important maps published at the outset of the Mexican War, depicting the Transmississippi region, showing Texas as a state and California as a territory, with an inset of the plan for the Battle of Monterey.

"The demand for maps of the West by Americans increased with the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846. This was reflected by the inclusion of Mexico on U.S. maps and in the publication of separate maps of Mexico with adjoining states of the Union" (Ristow, 451). This 1846 Mitchell map of Mexico was very much a war map, containing scant topographical information and showing small flags for the battles of the Alamo, San Jacinto, Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey. A corner inset depicts the plan of the Battle of Monterey. Later the same year, Mitchell produced A New Map of Texas, including Texas as part of the United States. "Mitchell's ability to identify and correlate original sources, as well as material from other map makers, was evident in his 1846 production[s]" (Martin & Martin, 135). The cartographic source for this particular map (as well as his map of Mexico & Guatemala of the same year) was John Arrowsmith's Mexico (1842), to which Mitchell added more recent information from Wilkes (1841), Nicollet (1843), Emory (1844) and Preuss (1845). Here Texas is shown in red outline, with its panhandle extending to the 42nd parallel. This Mitchell map of Mexico was among those used in negotiating the peace treaty in 1848. Streeter 3868. Not in Wheat, either California or Transmississippi, or in Martin & Martin.

Expert repair to closed tear at stub. Fine condition. Scarce.