• Title : The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia
• Size: 16in x 14in (405mm x 355mm)
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Date : 1795
• Ref #:  31908

Description:
This large original copper-plate engraved antique map of the Russian Empire in Europe & Asia was engraved by William Barber for the 1795 edition of The General Atlas For Carey\'s Edition Of Guthries Geography improved ... Philadelphia:

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 16in x 14in (405mm x 355mm)
Plate size: - 16in x 14in (405mm x 355mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Folds as issued, small repair to left of image, no loss
Verso: - None

Background: 
It is scarcely necessary to look at a map of Russia - with which we must include Siberia - to visualize the daunting task facing Russian map makers. Indeed, considering the vastness of their territory and the lack of skilled cartographers, it is surprising that relatively good maps were available for engraving and printing in most of the well known sixteenth and seventeenth century atlases. Generally, maps of that time were based on material brought back from Moscow by visitors from the West. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

Carey, Mathew 1760 - 1839
Carey was an Irish-born American publisher and economist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Carey was born in Dublin into a middle-class family in 1760. He entered the bookselling and printing business in 1775, and when still only seventeen published a pamphlet criticizing dueling. This publication was quickly followed by another work criticizing the severity of the Irish penal code, and another criticizing Parliament. As a result, the British House of Commons threatened him with prosecution, and Carey fled to Paris in 1781. There he met Benjamin Franklin, the ambassador representing the American Revolutionary forces, who achieved independence that year. Franklin took Carey on to work in his printing office.
Carey worked for Franklin for a year before returning to Ireland, where he edited two Irish nationalist newspapers, The Freeman\\\'s Journal and The Volunteer\\\'s Journal. To avoid imprisonment and prosecution by the British, Carey dressed as a woman and stowed on a ship to emigrate to the newly independent United States in September 1784.
Upon Careys arrival in Philadelphia, the Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette gave him $400 to establish himself, and he used this money to set up a new publishing business and a book shop, establishing:
The Pennsylvania Herald (1785)
Columbian Magazine (1786), and
The American Museum.
None of these ventures proved very profitable, although the American Museum became the first American periodical to treat American culture as rich and original instead of a poor imitation of Great Britains. Carey printed the first American version of the Douay–Rheims Bible, popularly known as the Carey Bible, in 48 weekly installments, which subscribers could then have bound. It was the first Roman Catholic version of the Bible printed in the United States. Carey also printed numerous editions of the King James Version. In 1794-1796, Carey published America\\\'s first atlases. His 1802 map of Washington, D.C., was the first to name the stretch of land west of the United States Capitol as the Mall.
He frequently wrote on various social topics, including events during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, which proved a crisis for the city. Carey reported on debates in the state legislature as well as provided political commentary in his essays. He was a Catholic as well as founding member of the American Sunday-School Society, along with Quaker merchant Thomas P. Cope, Dr. Benjamin Rush and Episcopal bishop William White.
In 1822 Carey published Essays on Political Economy; or, The Most Certain Means of Promoting the Wealth, Power, Resources, and Happiness of Nations, Applied Particularly to the United States one of the first treatises favoring Alexander Hamilton\\\'s protectionist economic policy.
During Carey\\\'s lifetime, the publishing firm evolved to M. Carey & Son (1817-1821), M. Carey & Sons (1821-1824), and then to Carey & Lea (1824). Carey retired in 1825, leaving the publishing business to his son, Henry Charles Carey and son-in-law Isaac Lea. Lea and Henry Carey made the business successful and, for a time it was one of the most prominent publishers in the country. The business published such works as: The Encyclopedia Americana, A dictionary of German lexicon, as well as American editions of the works of Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper