Mitchell’s New General Atlas

Complete 1864 edition of Mitchell’s influential New General Atlas.

This spectacular atlas of the world was published in Philadelphia by Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Jr in 1864, shortly after inheriting the business from his father. The Mitchells were among the most prominent American mapmakers of the 19th century, and the elder initially got involved with cartography as a school teacher who was frustrated with the quality of available maps. He collaborated with skilled engravers and produced high-quality maps and atlases that contained the most up-to-date information available. Mitchell’s son (of the same name) would take over the business after his death in 1860 and continue the tremendous output.

His attention to detail is evident throughout the 56 separate sheets which encompass 84 different maps and city plans. Of particular interest are the maps that cover the American West and Mexico, the Far East, and Prussia. These regions were undergoing particularly tumultuous political changes around the time of publication; notably with the American Civil War, the end of the Taiping Rebellion, and Bismarck’s invasion of Denmark. Also of note are the street plans of major U.S. cities including; New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Chicago. These offer a fascinating window into the composition of America’s greatest cities of the mid-1860s.

The atlas concludes with 32 pages of text that present a wealth of additional contemporary information about the United States and the world. Contents include a list of post offices across North America, comprehensive population statistics for prominent nations, tables of distances to foreign ports, and descriptive lists of mountains and rivers.