West Indies

Code: 53514

Date;1871

Lithograph with original hand colouring. Overall sheet size: 43.2cms x 38cms.   On verso is text describing The West Indies - Cuba and Porto Rico.  Map also shows Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuala, Guayana etc  Highly decorative border. The  island of San Salvador or Cat Island in the Bahamas is identified as the site where Columbus supposedly landed on October 12 of 1492. Colton also identifies the site off the southern shore of Santo Domingo where Sir John Duckworth defeated the remainder of the French fleet following the battle of Trafalgar.   Two insets in the top right  detail the Bermuda Islands and the City and Harbor of Havana. The map depicts forts, rivers, railroads etc. .   The hand colouring is in Colton’s recognizable pink and greens depicts various state and territorial boundaries. Slight toning to margins and waterstaining in bottom left  else good condition. Dated 1853 in plate.

George Woolworth Colton (1827 - 1901) was the son of Joseph Hutchins Colton (July 5, 1800 - July 29, 1893) who was an important American map and atlas publisher operating between 1833 to 1897. JH Colton recognized a gap in the market and published guides for immigrants and updated maps with decorative borders after purchasing the copyright from cartographers such as David H. Burr. His two sons worked in the business with him on the vast output of railroad maps, guides and several atlases.  The non payment of the fee from Bolivia for a large quantity of maps of the country was financially disastrous for the company.  The maps are characterised by their decorative spiral borders and  vibrant contemporary hand colouring.