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4to., (11 x 8 6/8 inches). Full-page engraved double-page map of the world, double-page map of the United States, and 28 full-page maps of America and the world, all with original hand-colour in outline (some spotting and browning). Original half red morocco, marbled paper boards, printed paper label on the front cover (worn). Second edition, first published in 1822. The map of the United States, engraved by Annin & Smith, is similar to the one engraved by N. & S.S. Jocelyn and published in Morse's "Atlas of the United States" (1823) and is cited by Wheat. The map features the Oregon country with the overly-long Multnomah (Willamette) River. There is no northern boundary shown, although it appears that the U.S. extends into present-day British Columbia. In the west, which is mostly labeled Unexplored Country, a dotted line connects a lake in the vicinity of Salt Lake to the Pacific accompanied by a note, "Supposed River between the Buenaventara and the Bay of Francisco which will probably be the communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific." Additional maps with American interest include: North America; Canada; Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont; Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Connecticut; New York; Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Virginia, Maryland and Delaware; North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; Kentucky and Tennessee; Ohio and Indiana; Illinois and Missouri; West Indies; South America. Australia is depicted in the Pacific Ocean. Son of the celebrated Jedediah Morse, Sidney "was helpful to his father in revising the famous "Geography" of the elder Morse, and in 1822 the two edited a New System of Modern Geography. He made further advances in the field of geography when, in the 1830's, he and Henry A. Munson began working on a new method of printing maps: an engraving was made on wax, and from the engraving was made a plate to be inserted with the type. Morse had written atlases previously, the first being "An Atlas of the United States" in 1823, and the new method proved very valuable in enabling him to print several more. The first production using the new method was his "Cerographic Atlas of the United States", published in 1842. He is credited with two other inventions. On October 3, 1817, he and his brother Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) were granted a patent for a "flexible piston pump", and on July 17, 1866, he and his son were granted one for a "bathometer", to be used in deep-sea exploration" (Yale University Library online). Phillips 746; Ref: cf Wheat [TMW] #355. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.
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