A General Atlas Containing Distinct Maps Of all the known Countries in the World. Constructed from the Latest Authority [Binder's title: Lucas's Cabinet Atlas]

One of the Rarest of the Early American Atlases -- In Lucas's Characteristic Very Attractive Hand-Color. In an Elegant Contemporary American Binding. Fielding Lucas Jr. was one of the most important American mapmake. Folio. Contemporary full American red sheepskin, front and back covers with elaborate broad borders of varying gilt and blind roll tools, incorporating a distinctive star device, gilt roll tooling on edges and inner dentelles, spine divided into eight compartments (the title in one, and the others with fine gilt tooling). Six raised bands (gilt decorated). Binding expertly and gently restored, entirely preserving the fine original gilt spine backstrip. Corners gently restored, as are the inner hinges. Marbled endpapers. 2 leaves of letterpress. Title-page vignette. Engraved frontispiece of mountains, with contemporary full hand-coloring, one uncolored plate plus 98 engraved maps (including 13 double-page, all with exquisite full hand-coloring). Complete. Significant foxing on three of the maps (Orbis Veteribus Notus; Orbis Romani Pars Occidentalis; and Turkey in Europe). A very good copy in a notable and beautiful contemporary American binding. One of the Rarest of the Early American Atlases -- In Lucas's Characteristic Very Attractive Hand-Color. In an Elegant Contemporary American Binding. Fielding Lucas Jr. was one of the most important American mapmakers in his day. Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he came to Baltimore in 1804 and partnered with Conrad, Lucas & Company in 1807. He established his own stationers shop and bookstore, making a specialty of fine color plate books and atlases. Lucas's first atlas was announced in early- to mid-1812, with the maps engraved by Henry S. Tanner after drawings by Samuel Lewis -- A New and Elegant General Atlas: Containing maps of each of the United States. Bound copies of that atlas were available in early 1814, beating Carey to market by about two months (and nearly causing the breakup of Lucas's business dealings with Carey). The atlas offered here, A General Atlas Containing Distinct Maps of all the Known Countries in the World, expands on Lucas's earlier map making, and stands as one of the finest general atlases produced in the United States at the time. The characteristic delicate hand-coloring on Lucas's maps adds greatly to the overall beauty of the atlas, a trait emphasized by both contemporary reviewers and modern-day authorities (see below). Lucas's General Atlas is essentially four atlases in one; it begins with a historical atlas, then a world atlas, atlas of the United States, and ends with a very good section on the Caribbean and South America. Especially important for its American maps, which number 59 - more than half of the total number of maps herein - the atlas includes a separate map of each of the 24 states in the United States at the time of publication, plus further maps of the U.S. Territories, 20 maps of the West Indies, a separate map of every major island, a map of Mexico, and five maps of South American countries. The atlas also includes seven maps of the ancient world (Rome, Greece, Palestine, Egypt). David Rumsey has called this atlas, the finest general atlas produced in the U.S. at that time . The quality of the engraving is superb, the detail is very fine, and the coloring is delicate and elegant. In his study of the life and work of Fielding Lucas, Jr., James W. Foster described this atlas as: .undoubtedly the Lucas masterpiece. Lucas's General Atlas has often been overlooked by Americanists due to being classified as a world atlas, yet it is justly prized for its American maps. Besides a majority American content, the atlas is a thoroughly American production, with.…