"[5 Maps in Text] Virginia: A Geographical and Political Summary…",

This is a very uncommon reconstruction-era publication produced by Virginia's Board of Immigration intended to attract people to the state, and encourage redevelopment following the Civil War. It is filled with political and geographical information and extensive descriptions of Virginia's natural resources and cultural advantages. The board selected the former Confederate cartographer, Major Jed. Hotchkiss to do the summary and some of the cartography for the project. There are three fold-out maps of Virginia, with attractive hand-coloring, printed on thin banknote paper: a physiographic map (19 x 10") showing railways, canals and courthouses in addition to the natural divisions, a geological map (22 x 10") that was produced by Prof. William B. Rogers using the findings from the survey done from 1835 - 1841, and a topographical map (18 x 10") that shows the elevations in brown overprinting. Additionally, there are two smaller maps of the United States and the World (showing the favorable commercial location of Virginia). The geological map is significant as being the first published geological map of Virginia issued by the state. 8vo. 319 pages. Softbound with original grey paper covers and printed title. Printed in Richmond by George W. Gary and published by the Commonwealth of Virginia under the direction of R.F. Walker.

References: cf. Marcou & Marcou #611.

Condition: A

Condition code is for the maps which are near fine on clean sheets. The one exception is the small, less important, black & white commercial map of the world which has cleanly separated along both folds. The three hand-colored Virginia maps have separated from the text volume and have archival reinforcement along the folds on verso. Text is lightly toned and the first few pages have small chips along the fore-edge. The front paper wrapper is detached.