MELISH, John (1771-1822).
A Military and Topographical Atlas of the United States; including the British Possessions & Florida: comprehending 1. Map and Description of the Seat of War in North America. 2. Description of do. 3. Map of the Southern Section of the United States, including Florida, &c. 4. Description of do. 5. Map of the Coast from Norfolk to Newport. 6. Map of Detroit River. 7. Plan of Quebec and adjacent country. 8. Official Documents relative to the operations of the British army in reducing the Canadas. 9. Chart of the St. Lawrence river from Sacket's Harbour to French Mills. 10. Map of the River St. Lawrence, and adjacent country, from French Mills to Montreal. 11. Map of the Seat of War among the Creek Indians. 12. Map of New Orleans. . .
Philadelphia: Published by John Melish. G. Palmer printer, 1815. Second edition, expanded.

Comparables: Butterfield, 2004 - $16,450; Siebert, 1999 - $12,650.

Octavo in 8s and 4s (8 5/8" x 5 1/8", 219mm x 130mm). With 3 engraved plates and 9 folding hand-colored engraved maps. Bound in contemporary half red roan (rebacked, with the original back-strip laid down) over marbled boards and cloth ties. On the spine, seven transverse gilt fillets. Title gilt (MILITARY ATLAS) in the second panel. Rebacked, with the original back-strip laid down. Upper ties of both boards perished. Rubbed generally, with some wear to the fore-corners. Moderately tanned, heavily in places, and offset throughout, with some spotting. Many of the maps backed onto heavier stock, or repaired at the folds. Bilingual bookseller's ticket of Benjamin Hanna, New Orleans to the front paste-down. Ownership signature of "Ed P McCarty/ Saint Louis/ Mo." on the recto of the first free end-paper.

John Melish (1771-1822) was born in Scotland and emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia in 1811. There he established himself as a cartographer-printer-publisher in the mold of the Dutch masters, and became the great mapmaker of the expanding United States. Crucial to his success was this pocket military atlas (compare the 1776 "Holster Atlas" of Sayer and Bennet) that combined not only large folding maps but considerable descriptions of the places depicted and their strategic roles ("The Seat of War in North America") in the War of 1812, which had recently ended. Whereas the first edition (1813) was a tool for a war in progress, this second edition, with its expanded scope, shows Melish preparing for the map of the "Seat of Peace" (compare the "Seat of War" in the present work) that would (in 1816) become the first domestically-made coast-to-coast wall map of America. The enlargement of the second edition points to the new focus of American expansion once the threat of the British in the Northeast had wrapped up: the Southeast. New maps of New Orleans and the Creek War theatre reflect the shift to expansion toward Texas, which, after the Mexican War of Independence (1821) would land in the sights of the United States. Edward P. McCarty (1845-1881) was born in Illinois and emigrated to Saint Louis. He studied law at Washington University (class of 1870) and eventually served as a St. Louis city counselor. Benjamin Hanna was a publisher-bookseller in New Orleans active in the opening decades of the XIXc.