Map of Maine, circa 1831

Collection

Identifier: MCC-00492

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of one small antique map of Maine circa 1831. This map was taken out of a book titled “Child’s Own Book of American Geography by the author of Peter Parley’s Tales with Sixty Engravings and Eighteen Maps. Published by James B. Dow, Boston, 1837.” The map shows Maine with a population of 399,462 and indicates that it was "Entered according to act of Congress on the 2nd day of March by S.G. Goodrich of Massachusetts". In the "Maine an Encyclopedia", the 1830 Census specifies the population is 399,455 and that is why we presume the map year is around 1831. The name G. Boynton Sc. shows up on the bottom right hand corner of the map. George W. Boynton was an engraver and printer at the time. The map measures 13.5 cm by 18 cm. The top and bottom right corners look like they were cut or torn but it does not restrict the view for any of the content on the map. The map shows some foxing but is otherwise in good condition.

Dates

Creation: 1831-00-00
Other: 2004-08-00

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access.

Biographical

Goodrich, Samuel Griswold, (born Aug. 19, 1793, Ridgefield, Conn., U.S.—died May 9, 1860, New York City), American publisher and author of children’s books under the pseudonym of Peter Parley.

Largely self-educated, Goodrich became a bookseller and publisher at Hartford and later in Boston. There, beginning in 1828, he published for 15 years an illustrated annual, the Token, to which he was a frequent contributor both in prose and verse. The Token contained some of the earliest work of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry W. Longfellow. Goodrich published Peter Parley’s Magazine (1832–44) and then merged it into his Merry’s Museum, founded in 1841 and for a time edited by Louisa May Alcott.

In 1827 he began, under the name of Peter Parley, his series of books for the young, which embraced geography, biography, history, science, and miscellaneous tales. He was the sole composer of comparatively few of these, but in his Recollections of a Lifetime, 2 vol. (1856), he wrote that he was “the author and editor of about 170 volumes,” of which about 7,000,000 copies had been sold, and gave a list both of the works of which he was the author or editor and of the spurious works published under his name. He was widely imitated, especially in England, where seven Peter Parleys held the field. Goodrich was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1836 and of the state Senate in 1837. In 1851–53 he was consul at Paris, where he remained until 1855.

Biographical

Boynton, George Washington (fl. c. 1830 - 1850) George Washington Boynton (fl. c. 1830 - 1850) was a Boston based cartographer and map engraver active in the first half of the 19th century. Boynton engraved and compiled maps for numerous publishers including Thomas Bradford, Nathaniel Dearborn, Daniel Adams, and S. G. Goodrich. His most significant work is most likely his engraving of various maps for Bradford's National Atlas. He also engraved for the Boston Almanac. In 1835 Boynton is listed as an employee of the Boston Bewick Company, an engraving, stereotype, and printing concern based at no. 47 Court Street, Boston. Little else is known of his life.