In the catalogue addendum: Civil War / Tennessee / Kentucky. Swann, Charles E. [Cincinnati, 1863] Military Map of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, within eleven miles of the 35th parallel of latitude or southern boundary of Tennessee; compiled from the best authentic original maps... 50 ¼ x 84 ½ inches. Period outline color, linen backed, dissected, and folding. Minor signs of aging, but a very nice example of a rare map. $6,750

First edition (of two.) This mammouth map of Kentucky and Tennessee, published by the Department of the Ohio of the United States Army, was the definitive map of the area during the Civil War. As the contemporary ms. notation on the map states, the map was distributed directly to Union officers.

On the eve of the war, few good maps existed of areas in which fighting was likely to occur. It fell to the Corps of Engineers of both the Union and Confederate armies to attempt to fill the void. Drawn on a scale of 5 ½ miles to the inch, this map was the largest and most detailed for Kentucky and Tennessee produced by either side. It locates iron works and forges, salt works, mills, post offices, railroads, proposed railroads, improved turnpikes and stage roads, common roads, coal fields, and a wealth of other detail of military interest. The compilation was a massive project undertaken over several years under three successive Departmental commanders –Buell, Wright, and Burnside—and three Chief Engineers – Michler, Sitgreaves, and Simpson. Each of these engineers has already distinguished themselves in the field of army mapping. Michler had worked for the Mexican Boundary Survey, and both Sitgreaves and Simpson had been instrumental in the exploration and mapping of the American Southwest (See, for example, James Harvey Simpson, Report and Map of the Route from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1850; Lorenzo Sitgreaves, Report of an Expedition Down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers, 1853.)

Copies of the map were distributed to high-ranking officers of the Department of the Ohio. The value in which it was held is forcefully indicated by the notation in the lower margin, in which these officers are admonished to “hold them (the maps) useful for the public service & [to] be careful to transmit them to their successors in command.” This particular copy was presented to “Acting Master Geo. J. Groves by LeRoy Fitch Lt. Commander 10th District Miss[issippi] Squadron.

Stephenson, Civil War Maps An Annotated List of Maps and Atlases in the Library of Congress, 216.7

Such a map as this is itself a roadmap to collecting either Civil War material or books and ephemera relating to Kentucky and Tennessee.

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Michael Brown Rare Books
Catalogue 31
Americana

Certain kinds of catalogues simply work better with the Æ Database. These are the catalogues that detail the underpinnings of Americana. Such catalogues assume that everything in the Americana field is collectible and worth describing in detail. Our Æ Database works very well with well described material and finds logical ways to connect material no matter how diverse so long as they are thoroughly detailed. Every item in Catalogue 31 Americana fits into hundreds if not thousands of potential collections. Some catalogues are bouillon. These catalogues are bouillabaisse.

#33. Reid, Arthur, Reminiscences of the Revolution, or, Le Loup’s Bloody Trail from Salem to Fort Edward. Utica: Roberts, Book & Job Printer, 1859, octavo, 31 page pamphlet, original printed wraps, some minor chipping to fore-edge of front wrapper, otherwise a good clean copy. Howes R-164. $85

In the years following the Revolution accounts were printed of various events, often those with some local connection. Local printers undertook these projects. They are an interesting category of collecting and this is an inexpensive, and certainly very rare, piece.

#36. Tucker, Josiah, Four Tracts, Together with Two Sermons, on Political and Commercial Subjects. Glocester: Printed by R. Raikes, and Sold by J. Rivington, 1774, first edition, octavo, (2), xv, 9-216, 35, 1 pp., bound in recent ¼ blue polished calf, leather label, marbles boards, text clean, a very good clean copy. Contains the following tracts: A Solution of the Important Question, Whether a Poor Country...can supplant the Trade of a rich manufacturing Country (written in 1758, but here first printed); The Case of going to War for the Sake of Trade; A Letter from a Merchant in London, to his Nephew in America, concerning the late and present Disturbances in the Colonies; The True Interest of Great-Britain set forth in regard to the Colonies...Adams American Controversy 74-80a, Howes T-384, Sabin 97346 $500