Johnson‘s Hindoostan and Farther India

1867

Original hand-coloured steel engraving on paper

Without mount: 16.7 x 22.5 in (42.5 x 57.2 cm)
With mount: 23.6 x 29.6 in (60 x 75.2 cm)

Bright original hand coloured large format map of India showing Bengal, Bombay, Burma, Anam, Laos, Siam, etc with mountains, waterways and lakes shown in nice detail. Coastline with associated islands is beautifully illustrated, and many cities are named. Two insets show the Delta of the Ganges at lower left and Singapore at lower right. This interesting image is surrounded by an elegant border.

Alvin Jewett Johnson (23 September 1827 – 22 April 1884)
American map publisher Alvin Jewett Johnson was a prolific man, working from 1856 to the mid-1880s. In Wallingford, Vermont, Johnson was born into a low-income household and only obtained a basic public education. Before relocating to Richmond, Virginia, he is reported to have spent a number of years working as a school teacher. Johnson initially encountered the map industry while working as a sales representative and book canvasser for J H Colton and Company.

The Johnson firm did not publish its first major product, Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas, until 1860. The earliest Johnson maps were published by D. Griffing Johnson (no clear relation) and date to the mid-1850s. The Family Atlas came out of a somewhat enigmatic 1859 agreement with the venerable but financially struggling J H Colton cartography publishing company. While cartographer Water Ristow hypothesises that Colton sold his copyrights to Johnson and his business associate, another Vermonter by the name of Ross C. Browning (1822-1899), a more plausible explanation is that Browning and Johnson provided financial backing to the Colton company in return for the use of Colton's already copyrighted map plates. The fact that the initial Johnson atlas maps were essentially reprints of older Colton maps cannot be disputed, regardless of which scenario actually happened. Johnson introduced his company as the 'Successors to J. H. Colton and Company' at the outset. As part of his business plan, Johnson moved the original Colton steel plate engravings to less expensive lithographic stones, which increased production volume while lowering costs.

After the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Johnson and Browning divided their company into two offices. Johnson relocated to New York City from Richmond, Virginia. After the war started in 1862, Browning continued to print the atlas in Richmond, where he stayed. Two versions of the Johnson Atlas were released by Johnson and Browning in 1860 (Richmond and New York) and 1861 (Richmond and New York). Benjamin P. Ward acquired Browning's share of the company (or possibly only the New York portion) in 1861, and his name was then printed on the imprint in lieu of Browning's. One of the more peculiar editions of the Family Atlas was the 1863 edition, which combined older Johnson and Browning maps with updated 1862 Johnson and Ward maps and more recent 1863 maps with a new border design.

The first complete Johnson and Ward atlas is found in the Family Atlas, published in 1864. In collaboration with Ward, Johnson released one more edition of the atlas in 1865, and it appears that Johnson then acquired Ward's stake in the company. The first entirely Johnson atlas, with completely new map plates, revised imprints, and copyrights, is the following atlas release, 1866. The Family Atlas was published for about 27 years, from 1860 to 1887, outlasting the life of Johnson, who passed away in 1884. Four distinct border designs can be found on Johnson maps from the Family Atlas: the "strapwork border" from 1860 to 1863, the "fret-work border" from 1863 to 1869, the "spirograph border" from 1870 to 1882, and a more ornate version of the same from 1880 to 1887.

Johnson published several wall maps, pocket maps, and the Cyclopedia in the 1880s, in addition to the Family Atlas. Johnson hand-coloured maps are renowned for their exquisite detail, accuracy, and size. Johnson's maps, which are uniquely American in both form and execution, document some of the most significant events and eras in American history, such as the Indian Wars, the Civil War, and the Westward Expansion. Today's map collectors and historians greatly prize Johnson's maps, particularly those of the American West.

This work will be shipped unframed

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