1827 Vandermaelen Map UTAH Salt Lake, Green River, Rare

We are pleased to offer this scarce original map of what is now Utah compiled and published by the brilliant Belgian geographer Philippe Vandermaelen (1795-1869) from his monumental Atlas Universel de Geographie Physique, Politique, Statistique et Mineralogique, a work consisting of six volumes with a total of 378 map sheets drawn as globe gores on the so-called Flamsteed or modified conical projection at a unprecedented 1:1,641,836 scale - the whole of which assembles to form a globe of 7.775 meters in diameter.  The atlas offered no less than the largest picture of the earth's surface that had ever been recorded.  Despite a sale price of 600 gold francs (~ $4000 in 2009 USD) the atlas was a commercial success, selling hundreds of copies to customers ranging from the crowned heads of Europe to Alexander von Humboldt to the Pope.  The income from the atlas as well as a significant inheritance enabled Vandermaelen to found the Brussels Geographic Institute along the Chaussée de Gand and Charleroi Canal (along with two adjacent and rather opulent homes for Vandermaelen and his brother), the library of which housed the only example of the giant globe ever constructed from the plates of the atlas.  Employing a team of draughtsmen, lithographers and geographers Vandermaelen's Institute continued producing maps of all types throughout his life - nearly 5000 published maps in all.  Discerning collectors have in recent years come to appreciate Vandermaelen's importance as a visionary geographer - "a worthy follower of Mercator and Ortelius" as his biographer Eugene Gilbert de Cauwer put it - as well as the beauty and historical importance of the Atlas Universel maps.  As we shall see, this rare and fascinating map provides startling insight into just how little was known of the land of the "Yutas" in the second quarter of the 19th century and how much of what was "known" was entirely wrong.  As Vandermaelen notes on the map, nothing was known of the area west of the (here mislocated) Great Salt Lake so he fills the left third of the map with text summarising the geology and history of Mexico (as this was Mexican territory at the time) which would of course serve as an informative cartouche on the great globe!  The map features exceptionally fine hachure work for topography, and will make a fine presentation if matted and framed.

We begin our survey of the map with Lake Timpanagos, the original name given to what is now Utah Lake.  The lake was named after an offshoot group of Utes living in the region by the Franciscan missionary Silvestre Velez de Escalante on his 1776 expedition to find a land route from Santa Fe to Monterrey in California.  Escalante clearly described the lake as being fresh water, and explicitly distinguished it from Great Salt Lake, which he did not see but knew of from accounts of the local natives.  This led to decades of cartographic confusion as the cartographer on the expedition, Bernardo Miera y Pacheco did not include Great Salt Lake on his map but did show a second lake, much smaller than Timpanagos, now believed to be the often dry Sevier Lake.  When the trappers Jim Bridger and Etienne Provost independently reported on visiting Great Salt Lake in 1824 (the first Europeans to do so) it was believed that it was located to the south of Timpanagos.  Note that this confirmation of Great Salt Lake's existence was just three years before Vandermaelen published this map so in a way this was one of the most up to date (if quite confused) maps of the region to date.  However, the location error for the two lakes was perpetuated for many years in maps of the region, with Timpanagos often shown at a size to rival Lake Erie and with one or more rivers running to the Pacific.  As Vandermaelen notes at upper left, "this lake and its environs are very imperfectly known from the journals of Father Escelante":

Many earlier maps had shown the legendary Lake Teguayo at various locations throughout what is now Mexico and the American southwest, but here Vandermaelen specifically identifies it as Great Salt Lake, albeit mislocated to the south of the freshwater Lake Utah.  The reference to the "Raguapui" is a corruption of "Bagiopa", a Shoshone tribe living along the Colorado River region:

Vandermaelen chose to produce his maps through the medium of lithography - still a relatively new printing technology at the time.  With the assistance of his partner Henri Ode, a master lithographer, Vandermaelen did much to advance lithography in Belgium, spurring other mapmakers to abandon copper or steel engravings in favour of lithography.  However they did not attempt to produce the maps through chromolithography - each map is individually hand coloured.  Notations here show the "source of the Arkansas River according to Mr. (Zebulon) Pike" as well "principal source of the Colorado River":

Some to beautify their halls, parlours and chambers... liketh, loveth, getteth, and useth maps, charts, and geographical globes" - John Dee (1527-1608)

"...Maps begin as dreams, pass through a finite life in the world, and resume as dreams again..." - Thomas Pynchon

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