Alvin Jewett Johnson (1827 - 1884)

Profile :
Alvin Jewett Johnson (1827-1884) was an American map publisher, cartographer, and businessman. He was born on September 23, 1827, in Wallingford, Vermont, and started his career as a teacher. Later, he moved to Richmond, Virginia, and became a bookseller and publisher. In 1856, he founded his own map publishing company, A.J. Johnson & Company, which would go on to become one of the most successful map publishers of the 19th century.

Johnson's maps were highly accurate, detailed, and beautifully designed, which made them very popular with the public. He used the latest surveying techniques and information to create maps that were up-to-date and reliable. He also employed talented engravers and artists to create decorative elements for his maps, such as borders, vignettes, and illustrations.

Some of Johnson's most famous works include his "Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas," which was published in 1862 and contained over 200 maps, as well as his "Johnson's World Atlas," which was first published in 1860 and contained over 60 maps. He also published individual state and city maps, as well as maps of other countries and regions around the world.

Johnson's maps were popular not only in the United States but also in Europe and other parts of the world. His company continued to publish maps and atlases even after his death in 1884, and it was eventually bought out by the publishing giant, Rand McNally, in the early 20th century. Today, Johnson's maps are highly collectible and continue to be admired for their accuracy, beauty, and historical significance.

Alvin Jewett Johnson (3)

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1845 Johnston Large Antique Map of Australia, New Zealand, North America Pacific

1845 Johnston Large Antique Map of Australia, New Zealand, North America Pacific

Description:
This large fine hand coloured original steel plate engraved antique map of Australia, New Zealand, North America and the Pacific Ocean by W & AK Johnston, was published in the 1845 edition of his large General Atlas.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, Green, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 25in x 21in (640mm x 535mm)
Plate size: - 25in x 21in (640mm x 535mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
Australia is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world\\\'s sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country\\\'s other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians for about 60,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century. It is documented that Aborigines spoke languages that can be classified into about 250 groups. After the European discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, who named it New Holland, Australia\\\'s eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia\\\'s national day. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories.
Being the oldest, flattest and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils, Australia has a landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres. A megadiverse country, its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east and mountain ranges in the south-east. A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, which boosted the population of the country. Nevertheless, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, remains among the lowest in the world. Australia generates its income from various sources including mining-related exports, telecommunications, banking and manufacturing. Indigenous Australian rock art is the oldest and richest in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent (in 1606), are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.
With the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. A camp was set up and the flag raised at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, on 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia\\\'s national day, Australia Day. A British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Western Australia (the Swan River Colony) in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a free province—it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded free, but later accepted transported convicts. A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.

$150.00 USD
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1845 Johnston Large Antique Map of Australia, New Zealand, North America Pacific

1845 Johnston Large Antique Map of Australia, New Zealand, North America Pacific

Description:
This large fine hand coloured original steel plate engraved antique map of Australia, New Zealand, North America and the Pacific Ocean by W & AK Johnston, was published in the 1845 edition of his large General Atlas.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, Green, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 25in x 21in (640mm x 535mm)
Plate size: - 25in x 21in (640mm x 535mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
Australia is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world\\\'s sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country\\\'s other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians for about 60,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century. It is documented that Aborigines spoke languages that can be classified into about 250 groups. After the European discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, who named it New Holland, Australia\\\'s eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia\\\'s national day. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories.
Being the oldest, flattest and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils, Australia has a landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres. A megadiverse country, its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east and mountain ranges in the south-east. A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, which boosted the population of the country. Nevertheless, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, remains among the lowest in the world. Australia generates its income from various sources including mining-related exports, telecommunications, banking and manufacturing. Indigenous Australian rock art is the oldest and richest in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent (in 1606), are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.
With the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. A camp was set up and the flag raised at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, on 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia\\\'s national day, Australia Day. A British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Western Australia (the Swan River Colony) in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a free province—it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded free, but later accepted transported convicts. A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.

$150.00 USD
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1860 A J Johnson Large Antique 1st edition Map of The State of Illinois, USA

1860 A J Johnson Large Antique 1st edition Map of The State of Illinois, USA

Description: 
This finely engraved beautifully hand coloured original 1st edition map of the State of Illinois was published by A J Johnson in the 1860 edition ofJohnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas.

Background:
1st Edition, 1st issue. Most of the maps in this atlas come from Colton's 1859 edition of the General Atlas, published by Johnson and Browning, indicating the Johnson connection; some do not come from this atlas, and their sources are: the New England maps (scale 1" = 9 miles) come from Colton's map of New England and then the sub-maps of Vermont and New Hampshire, Mass/Conn/R.I.; the Ohio/Indiana is still a mystery; all the 1" = 24 miles maps (Iowa, Kentucky, etc.) come from Colton's Map of the United States and the Canadas, originally published by J. Calvin Smith in 1843 (see W. Heckrotte's copies and his list of editions); and the Colton General Atlas maps used by Johnson come from Colton's Travellers Series of maps - see our copies of Penn., Indiana. Colton mentions "The National Atlas of the United States, constructed from the Public Surveys..large Folio" as in preparation in his 1855 catalogue; this may be the embryonic Johnson Atlas. Colton used his wall maps "cut up" for pocket maps and Atlases. Johnson's maps of S. America, Europe, Africa, and (in the first edition, first issue, only) China, East Indies etc., all come from D. Griffing Johnson's Map of the World, 1847. These atlas maps are updated (esp. Africa). Colton took over the publication of the World Map in 1849, issued editions to 1868 (Ristow p318). Also, Johnson's N. America map is the inset N. America in Smith's Map of the U.S., the Canadas, etc. This first issue of Johnson's Family Atlas differs from the later 1860 edition in a small N.Y. (from the Colton U.S. map), small Texas, and many of the maps have fewer views or no views or different configurations. Clearly, this was a first attempt that was refined later in the year. Another issue of this same edition was published in Richmond, Virginia, the home town of Browning (I.L.). The California map originates with Johnson's New Illustrated and Embellished County

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy & stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Pink green yellow  
General color appearance: - Authentic  
Paper size: - 17 1/2in x 13in (450mm x 330mm)
Plate size: - 17 1/2in x 13in (450mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min 1/4in 312mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Uniform age toning, light chipping to margin edges
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Uniform age toning

$110.00 USD
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