Mitchell Map of the United States 1861 — Antique Map Print

The story of this map

Samuel Augustus Mitchell ran one of the most successful map publishing houses in nineteenth-century Philadelphia, and his atlases sat in schoolrooms and parlours across the country. This sheet from 1861, issued as a military map showing the nation’s forts, catches the United States in the year the Civil War began.

The layout is what makes it such a striking print. A colour map of the states and territories sits at the centre, with forts marked across the West and the South, and around it runs a frame of small inset maps: individual states, the neighbourhoods of major cities, and tables of population. It reads almost like a newspaper front page of the nation, full of small things to lean in and find.

Because the sheet is nearly square, it works beautifully as a square framed print in a hallway, a home office or a classroom, and it is an easy gift for anyone who likes to trace where the country was on the eve of its greatest crisis. It belongs to our Antique Maps of US States collection, where it makes a good modern counterpoint to the 1784 McMurray map.

Printed to order on archival matte paper and framed in the country of delivery.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Mitchell Map of the United States, 1861: archive scan compared with the restored print

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration plan: crop scan margins, balance colour cast and levels while keeping the paper tone, remove library stamps and scanner artefacts if present, gentle sharpening. No repainting of original content.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.

Questions

Is this an original antique map?

No. It is a new archival print of a restored high-resolution scan of the 1861 map held by the Library of Congress. We never sell originals.

What is actually printed on this map?

A colour map of the United States and its territories as they stood in 1861, marked with forts, surrounded by a border of smaller inset maps of individual states and city vicinities and by population tables. It is a busy, almost poster-like sheet.

How big is the map on the sheet?

The main map is about 32 x 53 cm inside a sheet of roughly 61 x 65 cm, so the whole design is nearly square. Our prints run from 12 x 16 in to 24 x 32 in, including square 20 x 20 and 24 x 24 options that suit this sheet well.

Does it come framed?

Choose it. Every map comes as an archival matte paper print, a stretched canvas, or framed in black, white or natural oak. Framed prints are made and framed in the country of delivery, ready to hang.

Colours vary between screens and paper. The tone you see here is a close match to the archival matte print; framed prints have no glass glare in these previews.

Pairs well with

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print

First Map of the United States, 1784

William McMurray · Library of Congress

$129 24×18 in framed · paper from $35

Burr Map of New York State, 1839

David H. Burr · Library of Congress

$129 24×18 in framed · paper from $35

The discount is applied automatically at checkout when two or more framed prints are in the cart.

Size	Metric	Best for
16×12 in	41×30 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
20×16 in	51×41 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
20×20 in	51×51 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×18 in	61×46 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
24×24 in	61×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
30×24 in	76×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
32×24 in	81×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
40×30 in	102×76 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office

Mitchell Map of the United States, 1861

Before and after

Restoration notes

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print