Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Map of Connecticut

Interesting map of Connecticut from Carey & Lea’s influential American Atlas.

With a large map dominating the center, this sheet provides a comprehensive overview of the Constitution State after the first quarter of the 19th century. Large blocks of text and tables of statistics provide detailed accounts of the state’s geography, history, political organization, economy, and more. The map, engraved by Young & Delleker, presents the various counties colored by hand and organized into townships; most of which are connected by rudimentary dirt roads.

The locations of important battle sites and sieges are noted with flags, while topography is depicted pictorially. A small icon also identifies Faulkner Island Lighthouse, originally constructed in 1802. The sheet was issued as plate number 14 in the 1826 edition of Carey & Lea’s A Complete Historical, Chronological, and Geographical American Atlas.

This important American publication was issued in six separate editions and three different languages between 1822 and 1827. It was heavily influenced by an earlier European atlas by Emmanuel Las Cases (published under the pseudonym A. Lesage.), which inspired the format of a base map surrounded by blocks of informative text and tables of statistics.

Henry Carey, a political economist and the son of prominent publisher Matthew Carey, and his brother-in-law Isaac Lea incorporated this novel theme into their atlas, which focused entirely on the countries of the Western Hemisphere. It was issued at a time of tremendous political change in both North and South America, and the detailed maps accompanied by extensive text provide a unique, often insightful, perspective on the problems and possibilities of the Americas in the first quarter of the 19th century.

Wheat, C. I. (2004). Mapping the Transmississippi West: 1540-1861. Mansfield Centre (CT): Martino Publishing. #348

Egli, L. G., & Phillips, P. L. (1974). A list of geographical atlases in the Library of Congress. Washington: Library of Congress. #1373