Comparison of World Mountains and Rivers Map; 1864 Johnsons; Fine Reproduction

This is a museum-grade reproduction of the 1864 edition of Johnson's Mountains and Rivers Chart. This chart, printed in 1864, represents a significant reimagining and re-engraving of Johnson's pre-1864 mountains and rivers charts. Johnson first introduced a mountains and rivers chart in the second edition of his atlas, published in 1861. That chart, based on a related 1855 chart engraved by J. H. Colton, was very similar to other topical charts common in European atlases of the period in that it presented all of the great mountains and rivers of the world in a single panoramic view. Johnson, perhaps recognizing that the traditional chart, which necessarily highlighted the primacy of the great mountains and rivers of Asia, was difficult to read with regard to the regions that interested his constituent readers - North Americans and Europeans. Thus Johnson re-engraved his chart, taking the bold step of dividing the world's great mountains and rivers by continent. This curious move made the map more accessible on a continental level. Johnson's 1864 mountains and rivers chart can also be read from a political perspective, for by dividing the mountains according to continents, each continent's mountains appear equally great. While Johnson is not the first to focus his mountains and rivers chart on particular continent, this is the first example we are aware of that consolidate the mountains and rivers all of the continents, each represented individually, on a single chart. The chart is ordered roughly alphabetically in five sections, with Africa at the top, followed by Asia, Europe, South America and North America.