Bancroft. Map of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona...1873

An exceptional map of California, Nevada and Utah by Bancroft and Company.

A.L. Bancroft and Company
Map of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona
San Francisco: 1873
Hand-colored steel-plate engraving folding map with leather cover 41 1⁄2" x 46" framed
$18,000.

Bancroft’s Map of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona is exceptionally detailed; the folding map abounds with cartographic information, each county is brightly colored and town names, railways and roads are easily legible. Published in 1873 (this map was originally printed in 1864), this second edition allowed for geographical editions to be made to the original plates. The folding map’s portability meant that the map could be used in the field as a travel resource.

The A.L. Bancroft Publishing Company was founded by Hubert Howe Bancroft. Born in Ohio in 1832, Bancroft worked for his brother in law’s publishing house in Buffalo, New York as a young man. In 1852, Bancroft headed west with the intention to start a West Coast branch for his brother-in law’s office. In 1856, the branch opened on San Francisco’s prosperous Montgomery Street and, by 1857, Bancroft had established a publishing house. Printing maps, law books, school texts and teaching guides, Bancroft’s firm would continue to grow and prosper. In 1860, due to the company’s success Bancroft named his brother, Albert Little or A.L., as a new partner. A.L. Bancroft and Company was formed.

Bancroft was not only a successful businessman, but was also an avid collector. Starting in 1860, Bancroft began to collect works on the Pacific West. He hoped to write several historical volumes on western North American cultures, and their history. Most importantly, he aimed to include pioneer’s oral histories, termed “dictations,” and in doing so preserved numerous historical recollections that might have otherwise been lost.

Bancroft succeeded in writing and publishing 39 volumes entitled History of the Pacific States of North America, also known as Bancroft’s Works. The first five volumes, The Native Races, were published from 1886-1890. Following volumes include treatises on the Northern Mexican States, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Despite the volumes success in selling over 6,000 copies, Bancroft’s firm encountered legal and financial difficulties, and the firm closed its doors in 1894.

In 1905 Bancroft sold his collection of over 60,000 historical works to the University of California. Now complied at the Bancroft library at Berkeley which bears his name, the collections are an indispensable research tool for the early history of the West, from Alaska to Central America.

Bancroft’s Map of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona is in excellent condition and would make a fine addition to ones’ collection.