Colton's New Sectional Map of the State of Kansas compiled from the United States Surveys & other sources.

2 sheets (each 27 x 24 inches including an elaborate border, full margins). 2 fine engraved folding mapsheets of the entire state of Kansas with original hand-colour. Original brown cloth, gilt (worn with minor loss to the extremities). First issued in 1870, this is a large and an extremely detailed map of Kansas, which saw its population increase exponentially after the Civil War, when its vast prairies were turned into productive farmland. Each county and township is depicted down to the last square mile, and the land is traversed by a complex system of rivers and westward bound railroads. Issued by the sons of famous American cartographer Joseph Hutchins Colton (1800 - 1893) who had begun publishing maps in New York in the 1830s. Between 1831 and 1890, the Colton firm dominated American map publishing, although Colton had no formal training in geography or cartography; he began by purchasing copyrights of maps prepared by other individuals or companies, and his principal role was to manage the production and distribution of the maps. His first maps were drawn by the esteemed cartographer David H. Burr in the 1830s. By the 1850s Colton was also publishing guidebooks, atlases and immigrant and railroad maps. The firm was renamed G.W. & C.B. Colton in the 1860s when Colton was succeeded by his sons, George and Charles. It is believed that George Colton compiled the company's 1855 Atlas of the World and served thereafter as the firm's principal map compiler, cartographer and engraver. The Colton firm refused to compromise quality, choosing to compete for sales in the more expensive international market rather than the cheap domestic one. For this reason, all maps were printed with steel plates, rather than as wax engravings, which was the most common method used at the time.