H. R. Page. Texas, (Chicago: H. R. Page & Company, 1881). Published in Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wisconsin, pp 66–67. Double-page lithograph with full original hand color. 22 3/4 x 16 1/8 in. at neat line with full margins. Sheet size: 28 1/8 x 17 7/8 in. Inset map of western counties appearing upside-down at lower left. Illustrations of landmark buildings and mills in Wisconsin on verso. Very minor marginal soiling. A few minor marginal tears at top and left edge and a minor marginal crease at lower left corner, professionally stabilized. Centerfold professionally stabilized. Very good condition with fine color.
$1,500.00
Between 1866 and 1890, the illustrated state atlas flourished as a new branch of commercial cartography in the United States. State atlas publishing was an extension and refinement of the highly successful county atlas publishing business, which had evolved from the county map industry that had been profitable before and after the Civil War.
The present map of Texas comes—oddly enough—from the Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wisconsin, published by H. R. Page & Company of Chicago in 1881. Page had acquired the map plates prepared by the Milwaukee company of Snyder and Van Vechten in 1878 for their Historical Atlas of Wisconsin (which had been inspired by the A.E. Andreas Atlases of Iowa and Minnesota). Page then added sections of historical text, different illustrations, and maps of thirteen states besides Wisconsin (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas offered here).
Texas had an enormous increase in population in the decades following 1880. Page’s 1881 “Texas” records an early period in the development of the state, showing the weight of settlement within the smaller counties in the eastern part of the state. The railroad, which would encourage further growth, is shown here as concentrated to the east, predating its arrival at San Antonio in December of 1881. Other details include towns, forts, and rivers. While the northern area of the state is divided into smaller counties, there is little indication of settlement; rather there are indications of Kiowa Indian and Comanche territories along with a reference to the Hunting Range Treaty of 1865. Young Territory is also divided into smaller counties at this stage, with an indication of Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain. To the south, Bexar Territory is shown divided into several very large counties, with Tom Greene County comprised of over 60,000 square miles alone. Bexar Territory had been the first Spanish municipality established in the province of Texas as San Antonio de Béxar in 1731. Ultimately, Bexar Territory would be divided into 128 counties. Another intriguing aspect of this map of Texas is the inclusion of a large area of Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma) with its indications of tribal areas, including some noted as ‘reservations’ to the east, and areas to the west marked as “ceded to the U.S.”
Refs.: Library of Congress, no. 5079; Ristow, American Maps and Mapmakers, pp. 427, 434, 443; Tooley’s, p. 373.
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