The Atlases of A.J. Johnson
by Ira S. Lourie
See also:Alvin J. Johnson and his role in 19th Century Map Making in America
The U.S. Map Project's Rarity Index for Johnson Atlas Maps
Cartographic Bibliography of A.J. Johnson
(This is an updated version
of an article published in the Portolan,
No. 49, Winter 2000-01)
Background
Alvin J. Johnson entered
into the business of publishing atlases in 1860. Having previously been a book canvasser who
sold maps and atlases for the well-known map and atlas publisher, J.H. Colton,
Johnson was introduced to the profitability of atlases as a reference
book. Whether he originally planned to
start his book publishing business with atlases or not is unknown. It does appear that, when he came to

Editions
The Family Atlas was produced in editions dated every year from 1860 to 1887, with two known exceptions, 1875 and 1876, years for which no atlases have been discovered. These for the most part were not true editions, but the years printed on the title pages can be more accurately described as production dates for an individual atlas. Rather than wait until a set time every year to start printing a new edition which includes all of the changes made over the last year, in Johnson’s atlases they began using a newly updated or designed map as soon as it was available. More than likely, they started using the new map when they ran out of the old variation. As a result, several atlases with the same date on the title page may have different states/variations of the same maps depending on the time of the year the atlas was assembled. This was especially true in the early half of the 1860's, and less likely in the 1880's. There were no changes at all between 1884 and 1887, the years between when Johnson died and the company closed.
There were only four times over the 27 years that the atlases were published in which all the maps changed at the same time; there were two other times when all but one map in one instance and three maps in another (and these changed either one atlas before or later). For the most part the creation of a “psuedo-edition” was related to changes in pagination due to added maps, changes in the name of Johnson’s company and the related publisher attributions on the title page and maps, and changes in whether the back side of the maps were either blank or printed with gazetteer pages. These same items, along with geographical changes, map title changes, and other incidental changes, are also used in determining the various states/variations of the individual maps. A discussion of the most prominent factors used in determining pseudo-editions of the atlases and map states/variations follows.
Publisher Attribution Changes
While A.J. Johnson was the major publisher of the Family Atlas throughout its existence, the name of his company changed a number of times. Each atlas and each map within it included an attribution which identifies the name of the Johnson’s company at that time. This was one of the most consistent changes found in the maps, and in each atlas, every map included an attribution of the publisher, “Published by...”, identical to that on the title page of the atlas. While one might find an atlas in which the maps had two different versions of the border, on each map the attribution of the publisher were always the same.
From 1860 to early 1863,
the name of the company which published the atlases was Johnson &
Browning. Ross C. Browning was an agent
who worked in Johnson’s book canvassing business in
In 1863, Johnson and Ward became the name of the company publishing the Family Atlas. Benjamin P. Ward, like Browning had been an agent for Johnson, who appears to have been brought in as a financial backer, when Browning left. Even while receiving attribution as a joint publisher with Johnson, Ward never really was part of the company, and remained out in the field as a major agent in charge of selling the atlases by subscription in the west (Cleveland and Chicago). The company remained Johnson and Ward until 1866, after which Johnson bought out Ward’s interest in the business.
Johnson ran the company
himself from 1866 on, and starting in early 1866 the atlases and maps simply
attributed as, “Published by A.J. Johnson.”
This was about the same time that Johnson’s relationship with J.H.
Colton changed. Prior to this time, the
publisher attribution on the atlas title page had recognized the role of Colton
in the development of the maps in the atlases, and both the Johnson and Browning
and Johnson and Ward companies were both noted as being “successors to J.H.
Colton”. As Johnson became the sole
publisher of the Family Atlas, he no longer gave
The company remained A.J. Johnson, Publisher, until 1879. In that year, Johnson’s son was brought into the business and the attribution on the atlas title pages and the maps became “A.J. Johnson and Son.” This lasted only a short time, and by 1881, the name had changed to “A.J. Johnson and Co.”, even though his son remained with the business and ran it after his father’s death. The Johnson firm published under this name until it closed in 1887.
The publisher attribution is one of major items that change on the maps that aid in state/variation identification. Although the name of the company changed five times, there are six versions of the publisher attribution. This occurs because there were two versions of the Johnson and Ward attribution. Starting in 1860, both the Johnson and Browning and the Johnson and Ward attributions were printed in plain block letters. A more elaborate double-faced outlined font for the Johnson and Ward publisher attribution began being used in late 1862. By early 1863, all but three of the maps had made this change, and those three started using the double-faced outlined font in 1864. This same double faced type was used for the publisher attribution through 1887. The following chart demonstrates the history of publisher attributions throughout the publishing life of the Family Atlas. There was a third variation that was used in the 1861 United States map from 1861-64 when the new 1864 United States map was published, which utilized the double-faced outlined letters.
Publisher Attribution |
Font |
Years Used |
Johnson & Browning |
Plain Block Letters |
1860-1862 |
Johnson & Ward |
Plain Block Letters |
1862-1863 |
Johnson & Ward |
Double-Face Outlined Letters |
1862-1866 |
A.J. Johnson |
Double-Face Outlined Letters |
1866-1878 |
A.J. Johnson and Son |
Double-Face Outlined Letters |
1879-1880 |
A.J. Johnson and Co. |
Double-Face Outlined Letters |
1881-1887 |

Borders
Perhaps the most well known changes in the maps of the A.J. Johnson atlases are the map borders. Over the years the atlases were published, there were four different borders that appear on the maps. The borders were used in various years and can be used to help identify the various states/variations of the individual maps. The first border was used starting in 1860. The second border was first appeared in 1863. During that year, 40 percent of the maps began to use the second border; the other 60 percent adopted the second border during 1864. The second border was used through 1869. All of the maps began to use the third border in 1870. The fourth border is a variant of the third border, yet distinctly different. It was used on all maps from some time in 1883 through 1887, however, 12 maps also used the fourth border for one year extra prior year, 1880.

Map Title Changes
Several
of the maps have a change in title one or more times, while the map itself remained
basically the same. The reason this was done was to include new states of the
union as they were established. This
occurred most often with the maps which included several central or western
states, but it also happened in the east when
Original Title (date) |
Name(s)
Added |
Year Added |
|
Year Established |
|
Dakota |
1861 1861 1863 1864 |
3 3 7 9 |
|
|
|
1869 |
4 |
|
|
|
1863 |
8 |
|
|
|
1863 1863 1863 |
8 8 8 |
|
Page Numbers and Reverse/Verso Sides
The page numbers and
contents of the reverse side are second most consistent items that define
“editions” of the Family Atlas. Pagination
of the maps changed frequently, usually due to the addition of a new map or
subtraction of an old one. When these
changes took place at the beginning of the atlas, such as the addition of the
Johnson and other atlas
publishers of his era advertised the gazetteer part of their atlases with as
much gusto as they did the maps. The
title page of the early editions proudly announced that the atlas included “...descriptions
geographical, statistical, and historical, including the latest federal census,
a geographical index and a chronological history of the Civil War in America,
and the existing religious denominations in the world. Text by Richard Swainson Fisher.” It is interesting to note that Fisher also
wrote the “Descriptions” for
From 1860 to early 1863,
these sections were in separate areas of the atlas from the maps, and the backs, or versos,
of all of the maps were blank. At some
time during 1863, the “Descriptions” began to be printed on the reverse side of
the maps. This continued through 1872,
after which the “Descriptions” were removed from the reverse of the maps and
returned to separate sections of the atlas.
During the years when the “Descriptions” were on the reverse of the
maps, they were occasionally moved around creating unique states/variations of
the various maps. When these changes occurred, they affected every map in the
atlas, defining a pseudo-edition of the atlas.
There were several sections that regularly appeared on the reverse side
of the
Reverse Side Section (Code) |
Years Used |
Physical Geography (PG) |
1869-1872 |
Natural History: Interesting and Curious Animals (AN) |
1870-1872 |
Geographical Index (GI) |
1863-1872 |
Appendix to Geographical Index (AGI) |
1864-1872 |
Geography of Historical and Statistical View of |
1863-1872 |
Historical and Statistical View of the |
1863-1870 |
Historical and Statistical View of |
1864-1868 |
Historical and Statistical View of the |
1867-1868 |
Geographical Detail Changes
An extremely important feature of the maps of the Family Atlas was the fact that the geographical detail was updated on a regular basis. As discussed in a later section of this article, it was important for sales promotion that the atlases be as up to date as possible. As a result, the maps in Johnson’s atlases, as well as Colton and Mitchell’s, can be used to track the growth of the United States, including new towns and cities, new counties, new states and state boundaries, and new townships. Most of the map states/variations detailed in this study have accompanying changes in the geographical detail, along with the more easily recognizable changes in the map borders, pagination, publisher attribution, and contents of the reverse sides. There are even a few map states/variations for which the only defining quality is one or more geographical changes.
Counties. The most easily recognizable geographical changes are the development of new counties. Using Knox’s American Counties as a guide, every new county that was created in the United States between 1860 and 1882 was added to any map in which that county can be seen (whether or not it is in one of the titled states). For the most part, new counties showed up on the maps within two years of their establishment.
States. New states tended to be added much more
expeditiously.
State |
|
Date Statehood
Estab. |
Date
Appearing in Specific Maps |
|
|
1863 |
|
|
2/1861 |
1876 |
|
|
3/1861 |
1864 |
California/1861 |
Dakota |
3/1861 |
1889 |
Nebraska & Kansas/1861;Minnesota & Dakota/1860 |
|
2/1863 |
1912 |
United States/shown wrong in 1862, correct in 1863; |
|
3/1863 |
1890 |
|
|
5/1864 |
1889 |
|
|
7/1868 |
1890 |
United States/1866; Nebraska & Kansas/1864 |
Railroads. The growth of the railroads in the
For the most part, railroad changes on the maps are not the sole defining feature of map state/variation and they have not been comprehensively described for all states/variations of all maps, and they are not all listed in the Map Identifier data sets. (Researchers who want more information on the railroad changes should read the section on Archival Data in this website.)

Cities. Similar to the railroads, during the era of
the Family Atlas there was a significant growth in the number of cities
and towns. As maps changed, they
represented this new population growth.
There are no instances, however, where a
Picture Changes
During the years that
Johnson used
One example comes from
the 1860 map of
On the North and
Other Incidental Changes
Before Johnson began to
produce his own maps, the Family Atlas used maps previously drawn and
used by
On occasion, there were
blemishes that occurred in the map plate, which took some time to be
fixed. One example of this is in the
A Short Note About Printing
The title page of the Family Atlas prominently states that it is a “Steel Plate” atlas. This was used to demonstrate the high quality of the product and to enhance sales. However, Ristow suggests, and the wisdom of others observing the maps concurs, that the maps used in the atlases were actually lithographs. He points out in his book, American Maps and Mapmakers, that the title page of one copy of the Johnson Family Atlas, at the Library of Congress has the following notation on the contents page, “The maps are transferred and Printed by D. McLellan & Bros. 26 Spruce Street, New York.” Ristow further indicates that McLellan and his brothers were lithographers. The plates are felt to have originally been drawn on steel plates, and later transferred to stones for the actual printing of the atlases. (Ristow, W.W., American Maps and Mapmakers, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1985, p.325)
Selling Atlases By Subscription
The Johnson firm sold
almost all of its atlases and books by subscription through door to door
canvassers. Johnson alludes in one of
his letters that only on a rare occasion would an atlas be sold through the
publishing office itself. Other major
atlas publishers of the times,
Conclusion
Alvin J. Johnson was not
the most famous of American atlas publishers of the 19th Century, in
fact in most cartography texts he is merely an afterthought. However, his atlases were extremely popular,
as evidenced by their current availability relative to those of his
competitors, and his success as a salesman and publisher helped establish the
atlas as vital family reference book. The
fact Johnson most likely played a role in financially saving the failing