This vividly colored Ensign, Thayer & Co. Map of New England 1/was found rolled up and tucked away for safe storage by a family member for future generations, and here it is. The riot of imagery and geometric patterns, original vivid orange outlines and orange, red and green wash are characteristic of certain Ensigns 2/ & Thayer2/ pictorial maps and fully expressed in this remarkable example. The pictorial vignettes in the Map of New England celebrate the founding role of New Englanders, primary among them politically John Hancock3/ in the American Revolution and in the creation of the United States of America.
Hence the large engraved vignette4/ is of John Hancock whose portrait is flanked by a scene of the Boston Tea Party aboard the Beaver, moored in Boston Harbor. Men dressed up as Indians throw big boxes of tea overboard. From the nearby dock onlookers cheer. The top of the map's border features America's great Eagle perched on a rock covered with ocean spray. To the Eagle's right is a schooner, and to the left is Boston Harbor, Long Wharf and upon a hill in the background a domed building - the Massachusetts State House. Hancock had presided over an attempt to revise the tea tax act, the English Governor then dissolved the Massachusetts government, and Hancock left Boston for Concord to set up the first independent provincial government. This was a precursor to the American Revolution.
Pictorial art forms a frame around the geographic map of New England. The imagery of the frame repeats left and right to show a Native American, seated, holding his bow, native New England fruits, pumpkin and corn, nearby as he gazes out at a white mountain range. A New England farmer is at work behind his horse drawn plow, small farmhouse distantly in view, and below this scene is a full bunch of grapes growing on the vine. America is at peace.
And what of the map of New England itself? In great detail, the map presents the New England states, with their counties, towns, and prominent natural features such as the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Mt. Washington. Railroads are drawn in black or red, the map key explaining they are respectively, old or new railroads. 5/ The Atlantic Coast and islands, such as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and especially the rocky Maine Coast are shown pictorially and physically with a printing block impressed in the paper that creates a tactile impression of New England's rocky, inlet filled Atlantic Coast line.
Both the remarkable original, vivid colors and the artist's vignettes of New England history make Ensign, Thayer & Co.'s popular Map of New England a lively mid-19th c. spokesman and celebratory message of America's stature.
Notes:
1. The map is copyrighted 1847 in New York. This edition may be dated to 1851 when Boston based Sowle & Ward, offering a picture gallery, looking glasses and picture frames were active. Sowle's partnership with Ward is first listed in the Boston Directory For the Year Commencing July, 1851. George Adams, publisher. Sowle & Ward also distributed J.W. Hill's Boston color engraving. See Original Antique Maps.
2. Timothy Ensign, (1795-1859), Edward Hooker Ensign (1818-1871) doing business as T. and E.H. Ensign (1844-1848). The father and son Ensigns copyrighted this map. E.H. Ensign continued in business with Horace Thayer (1811-1875), a publisher working in New York and Buffalo. Sowle [John]& Ward [Joseph] at 43 Cornhill, Boston in 1851 likely acted as a sales agent for them.
3. John Hancock (1737- 1793) John Hancock (U.S. National Park Service)
4. Lossing - Barritt is the oldest New Yor City wood engraver whose work may be found also in books. Benson John Lossing (1813-1891) and William Barritt (b. ca. 1822). Their names appear below the John Hancock portrait. This map has the three dimensional imprint of a wood engraving as well, especially along the Atlantic coast.
5. There appear to be three editions of this map: 1847 as printed on the face of the map; undated but c. 1849-50 with "Jos. Ward, Boston" on the lower margin and no map key "old/new" railroads; and c. 1851 with "Sowle & Ward, Boston" on the lower margin and a black and red color key for railroads, old and new.