- Title: Map of Eastern Texas
- Author: Rand McNally & Co.
- Date: c.1890
- Condition: Very Good - Tears to left of title expertly repaired, all else fine
- Inches: 19 1/2 x 13 3/8 [Image]
- Centimeters: 49.53 x 33.97 [Image]
- Product ID: 308580
This finely detailed “Map of Eastern Texas,” exemplifies late nineteenth-century American commercial cartography—characterized by its clarity of design and its focus on administrative enumeration, transportation networks, and settlement patterns. Its coverage extends east of central Texas and features a detailed rendering of counties, each demarcated by sharp borderlines and differentiated through systematic pastel color-coding, reflecting both the geometry of county boundaries and the intensification of civil organization during the period.
Railroads, a driving force in regional economic integration and demographic change, are distinctly inscribed, their trajectories traversing county seats, smaller towns, and regional markets. The map’s urban toponymy includes principal and auxiliary settlements, with some annotated by economic functions (mills, post offices). Hydrological features—rivers, creeks, and smaller water bodies—are labeled, offering insight into the physiographic determinants of land use, migration, and infrastructure placement.
Background on Creator
In 1856, William H. Rand opened a Chicago print shop, hiring Irish immigrant Andrew McNally as a printer two years later. They established a relationship with the Chicago Tribune’s predecessor, soon taking over its printing operation in full. Eventually, in 1868 Rand, McNally, and Rand’s nephew George Amos Poole bought out the Tribune and founded Rand, McNally & Co. Now with significant printing experience under their belt, the three men embarked on several publishing endeavors, capitalizing on the massive success of Chicago’s railroad industry by printing tickets, timetables, and railroad guides. Rand, McNally & Co.’s cartographic enterprise began as an offshoot of their existing publishing business; it was not until 1872 that the company printed its first map, a wax engraving that appeared in the company’s December Railroad Guide. Thanks to the low cost and ease of production associated with wax engravings, the firm quickly became the largest commercial publisher in the United States and to this day continues to produce quality atlases, maps, and globes.