Colton

Joseph Hutchins Colton, later known as J. H. Colton, was a Massachusetts native born at the turn of the 19th century.  Although little is known about what may have attracted him to cartography (he purportedly started out working in a dry goods store), he moved to New York around the age of thirty and proceeded to open and build a truly influential mapmaking company that flourished between the years of 1831 and 1859, and remained in operation until the 1890s.

 Antique maps produced by the J. H. Colton Company have survived the years better than most because of the quality and popularity of the prints.  While most printers were producing maps using the wax engraving technique, Colton elected to bypass this frugal methodology and use steel plates to engrave his pieces, creating higher quality prints in the process.  He also hand water colored many of his maps and added decorative borders.  This attention to detail likely contributed to the success of his company and he quickly became an industry leader, producing high quality maps of every kind, from atlases and wall maps to common folding pocket maps.  Although he started his company with the intention of releasing pocket and railroad maps, he expanded his enterprise into a much more diverse and profitable undertaking.

 His success was due in large part to his ability to spot talent.  Colton was not himself an engraver, but he proved an innovative businessman.  He started his foray into the mapmaking industry by licensing and printing the works of other engravers, including notable names like David H. Burr, John Disturnell, Samuel Stiles, and later, D. Griffing Johnson.  The J. H. Colton Company is recognized as being the first in the industry to begin licensing copyrighted maps with the purpose of republishing them, which is perhaps why the company was so prolific and their vintage maps can still be found today.

 In 1855, Colton published his world atlas, which is considered to be one of the most important works by the J. H. Colton Company (perhaps in part because the historic maps are from the antebellum period).  Notably, he was famously commissioned by the Bolivian government to produce 2500 maps of the country for a tidy sum of $25,000.  Upon completion, he was denied payment due to government instability.  He filed a lawsuit against the government and was ultimately awarded $100,000.

 Today, you need not look far to find old maps produced by the J. H. Colton Company.  They can be found in the Library of Congress, as well as many state archives, universities, and museum collections.  The governments of several other countries also have Colton's historical maps on file.