Florida in 1856 - Pensacola, Key West, Tampa

Sidney Morse published this map of Florida in New York in 1856, part of Morse's General Atlas of the World and printed using the cerographic wax-engraving process he pioneered during the 1830s. Morse, son of the noted geographer Jedidiah Morse, developed the technique to make accurate, affordable maps that could be produced and revised far more quickly than traditional copperplate engraving allowed, and his atlases helped bring detailed state geography within reach of a much broader American readership. This map of Florida, colored by county, includes a number of early county configurations along with township surveys, particularly notable in the state's southern reaches.

A large inset of western Florida gives the panhandle around Pensacola its own detailed treatment, while the main map's handling of the Florida Keys is unusually thorough for a commercial atlas of the period, extending west to Tortugas Bank and capturing the vast majority of the island chain in careful detail. Pensacola anchors the historic Gulf Coast port in the panhandle, Key West appears as Florida's largest and most economically significant city on the strength of its wrecking and maritime trades, and Tampa marks the growing settlement developing around its natural harbor on the Gulf. The map's combination of county-level detail and careful attention to the Keys reflects Morse's broader effort to bring genuinely useful, up-to-date state geography to a prewar American audience.

This map is a fine gift for a family with Florida roots, for a transplant now settled on the Gulf Coast or in the Keys, or for a collector of Morse's cerographic atlas maps. It is offered unframed in a range of sizes.