A New American Atlas containing Maps of the Several States of the North American Union, projected and drawn on a uniform scale from documents found in public offices of the United States and State Governments, and other original and authentic information by Henry S. Tanner

Philadelphia: H.S. Tanner, 1823. Folio. (24 x 16 3/4 inches). Letterpress half-title, 1p. index and 18pp. text. Engraved title with vignette of the "First Landing of Columbus in the New World", 18 fine hand-coloured engraved maps (16 double-page, 2 folding). Expertly bound to style in half-calf over contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, the flat spine gilt and divided into seven compartments by fillets and roll tools, lettered in the second compartment, the others with repeat decoration in gilt, marbled endpapers

A fine copy of the first collected edition of "the most distinguished atlas published in the United States during the engraving period" (Ristow).

Tanner's New American Atlas contained the most accomplished series of maps of America that had yet appeared in an atlas. Of the greatest importance were the maps of American states. These maps were drawn up using a careful combination of original surveys and the best existing published sources. The evident high cost of production meant that the publishers took the decision to issue the maps in five separate parts which were published from 1819 to 1823. A second revised edition appeared in 1825. The maps, all of which are carefully hand-coloured, include a double-page world map, 4 double-page maps of continents, a map of South America on two joined sheets (numbered 6 and 7 in the index), a map of North America on 4 joined sheets (numbered 8 -11) and 11 double-page maps of the various States. The very large map of North America is of particular beauty and note. Wheat writes: "This map was a landmark - a great cartographical achievement ... Tanner made good use of a large number of intervening map, those of interest here being Humboldt's 'New Spain,' Pike's various maps, Long's map, and Pedro Walker's 'Map of New California' ... This 1822 map of North America was the progenitor of a long line of famous maps" (Wheat, II: pp. 82-87). Contemporary reviews of the atlas were favourable: the New American Atlas "is decidedly one of the most splendid works of the kind ever executed in this country" (United States Gazette, September 1823). Never "has either America or Europe, produced a geographical description of the several States of the Union, so honorable to the Arts, and so creditable to the nation as Tanner's American Atlas." (National Advocate 25 August 1824). Perhaps the most enthusiastic report came from the scholar Jared Sparks who wrote in the April 1824 issue of the North American Review that "as an American Atlas, we believe Mr. Tanner's work to hold a rank far above any other, which has been published."

Howes T29; Phillips 1374; cf. Ristow American Maps and Map Makers pp. 154 &193-198; Rumsey 2892; Sabin 94319; Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi West 350; Schwartz and Ehrenberg p.251.