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Johnson California Map, CA

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Maps, Atlases & Globes Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,200.00 USD
Johnson California Map, CA
IMPORTANT NOTE ON BUYERS PREMIUMS:

Lot 100 to 343 have a premium of 15%.

The rest of the sale is 19.5% as noted in the listing.

Lot Pick Up: Holabird-Kagin Americana,
3555 Airway Drive Ste #309,
Reno NV 89511,
Sunday - December 9, 10am-4pm
c1870s - This is a map from around the 1870s showing California, along with the Nevada, Utah and Washington Territories It is titled “Johnson’s California” and was done by Johnson & Browning.

Alvin Jewitt Johnson was one of the most prolific mapmakers of the 19th Century. Johnson was not a cartographer or engraver. He was an astute businessman, who recognized the need for quality American maps during this period of explosive growth.

Around 1859, Johnson purchased the engraved steel plates created by G.W. Colton and the copyrights for his maps. Instead of printing directly from these plates (which quickly wore them down, requiring costly new engravings), Johnson would merely update the engravings and transfer the image to less-expensive lithographic stones for printing. In this way the costly steel plates could be used for many years.

In his attempt to create an attractive, high-quality product to compete with the mapmakers of Europe, Johnson added ornate borders to the plates. He also continued to employ a staff of professional colorists to add the vivid hand applied washes to the lithographed maps.

Johnson (along with a partner as "Johnson & Browning") published his first maps in Richmond, Virginia in 1860. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Johnson quickly (and wisely) moved his operation to New York City. He took on a new partner (the new firm became "Johnson & Ward") and again began publishing maps for atlases that were sold by subscription.

This map once belonged to the Bancroft Library at the University of California. It is framed and matted and measures 27”x 32” and is in very good condition. One curious flaw is the map maker’s interpretation of Lake Tahoe on this rendition, -61997