Delaware and Maryland in 1836 - Wilmington, Dover, Baltimore

David Hugh Burr's map of Delaware and Maryland appeared in his Universal Atlas, first issued in 1836, and this example represents a rare first-edition impression of the plate. Burr trained as a surveyor under Simeon DeWitt in New York before compiling the second state atlas ever published in America, and by the 1830s he had been appointed official topographer for the United States Post Office, a position that gave his large-format state maps an accuracy and currency that set them apart from most contemporary commercial publications. Widely regarded as one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American cartography, Burr transferred ownership of this atlas's plates to Greenleaf around 1840, making surviving first-edition examples like this one comparatively scarce.

Counties, towns, rivers, roads, and courthouses are recorded across both states, with a dedicated inset in the lower left corner detailing the western part of Maryland, a mountainous region distinct enough from the Chesapeake lowlands to warrant its own separate treatment. Wilmington anchors Delaware's industrial north, Dover sits at the state's political center as its capital, and Baltimore, already one of the largest cities in the country, dominates Maryland's economy from its position on the Chesapeake Bay, with Annapolis serving as the state's historic seat of government. The map's fine wash coloring and precise engraving, hallmarks of Burr's celebrated atlas, render the intricate coastline and river systems of the Chesapeake region in exceptional detail.

This map is a fine gift for a family with roots on the Delmarva Peninsula or the Chesapeake Bay, for a transplant now settled in Baltimore or Wilmington, or for a collector of Burr's celebrated first-edition atlas. It is offered unframed in a range of sizes.