MELISH, John (1771-1822). Map of the United States....Entered...the 6th day of June, 1816...Improved to the 1st of January, 1818. Phila

Engraved folding map by J. Vallance and H.S. Tanner, overall 915 x 1490 mm, hand-colored in outline, dissected in 40 sections and mounted on linen, cream selvage, marbled paper outer panels. (Some light fraying to selvage, a few pale stains.) Modern cloth folding case. THE THOMAS W. STREETER COPYSecond state of the 1818 edition, still calling Illinois a Territory. Streeter identifies this map as the first state of the 1818 edition, but it corresponds with Ristow's second state. Streeter's pencil annotations along the border of Illinois and the Northwest Territory demarcate the 42nd and 43rd parallels. The printed dash and dot border between Illinois and the Northwest Territory is south of Chicago (as usual in the second state), and therefore Chicago is included on the map as part of the Northwest Territory; outline coloring in the present copy, however, places the northern border of Illinois further north, closer to the border near the parallel of 4230' present in the third state (and later) of this edition. The 1818 edition "differs from that of 1816 by the extension of the northern boundary of Illinois to include Chicago. Due to the inaccuracy in depicting Lake Michigan, however, Chicago could only be included in the state by adding a panhandle extending east to the Lake [present in this copy in hand-colored outline only]. Also, the five districts of Arkansas, Howard, Cape Girardeau, Lawrence and St. Louis appear on the map for the first time. The first two districts approximate the present bounds of Arkansas, the latter three the state of Missouri" (Streeter). Ristow John Melish and His Map of the United States, p.171; Streeter VI:3805 (this copy).

Provenance: Thomas W. Streeter (pencil annotations, bookplate, his sale, Parke Bernet, 23 April 1969, part VI, lot 3805).