First Large Map of the USA by Melish, 1816: Great Lakes, Mississippi, Missouri, Rockies, West Indies inset piedmont From the craggy peaks of

From the craggy peaks of the west to the fertile river basins and endless plains

was famed for his seminal work "Uranometria

and his maps are highly regarded by collectors

a fortress of stone where light grazes serrated ridgelines and shadows gather in glacial troughs

Context about the mapmaker: JG Bartholomew was a renowned Scottish cartographer

First Large Map of the USA by Melish, 1816: Great Lakes, Mississippi, Missouri, Rockies, West Indies inset piedmont From the craggy peaks ofMap of the United States with the contiguous British & Spanish Possessions announces an audacious vision in its very title. Compiled by the Scottish born Philadelphia publisher John Melish and engraved with crystalline finesse by J. Vallance and H. S. Tanner in 1816, it is the first truly large scale, detailed portrait of an expanding republic. A proud American eagle crowns the cartouche, signaling national confidence in the wake of the War of 1812,