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An apparent variant issue of another 1861 Bloomfield & Steel publication of the same title, that one with only fifty-three maps and issued in duodecimo. Variants of THE WORLD IN MINIATURE. are often named after the popular geographical series by the same title which first appeared in London as early as 1804, though the name appears on various works of geographical interest as early as 1735. The present edition shows all corners of the globe, with specific maps for East Canada, West Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, nearly every state in the Union and Confederacy (without Louisiana but including California and Texas), Mexico, Central America, and most major nations in Europe. The map of the United States does not show any division between North and South. At the end is a series of historical maps showing the evolution of world cartography. Of greatest importance is a series of maps and plates at the beginning of the text which attempts to show the various weather patterns of different regions of the globe, including Mercator projections that show rainfall, wind patterns, distribution of volcanoes, and mean temperature. Particular attention is paid to hurricane patterns in the West Indies and the cause of earthquakes. A note in the editor's preface indicates all the maps were engraved using the cerographic process, a method of engraving on wax that was far cheaper than copper plate engraving, though it produced maps of inferior quality. The technique was invented in 1834 by Sidney Morse, brother of Samuel Morse. Sidney Morse jealously guarded his invention, and he created only occasional maps by cerography until 1850, when he stopped using the process almost entirely. Around 1855 the technique was revived by Jewett & Chandler of Buffalo, who used it to produce a few maps, but, according to Ristow, the process went largely forgotten until 1870. These circumstances make the present atlas good evidence of this uncommon technique during its dark years, before the boom in cerography that occurred after 1870. Both Phillips and OCLC note that on the cover of their respective copies appears "Morse and Gaston's Diamond Atlas." The title "Diamond Atlas" also appears on each of the similar publications cited below, though only OCLC and Phillips cite Bloomfield & Steel as publishers. A most unusual Confederate imprint and extremely rare. OCLC locates only one copy. OCLC 40680988. RISTOW, pp.468-69. JUMONVILLE 2624, 3033 (ref). PARRISH & WILLINGHAM 7696 (ref). PHILLIPS ATLASES 1181, 820, 824 (ref). DAB XIII, pp.251-52. Dbd. Moderately worn, heavier along fore-edge through first four leaves. Loss of about five words on titlepage, minor spotting on titlepage. Scattered foxing, some leaves loose. Good. In a half morocco box.
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