Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1888
Sheet size
36 × 52.5 cm (14.2 × 20.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-12794-55
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Condition summary: Very good condition overall, with mild toning consistent with age. Some faint foxing and handling marks in the margins. Original fold line as issued, paper strong with clear engraved detail. No significant tears or repairs.
About this sheet
Colorado in 1888, twelve years after statehood, shown on an original map by Rand, McNally & Co. of Chicago from their Improved Indexed Business Atlas and Shippers Guide. The sheet is printed in black on toned paper with railroad lines overprinted in red and blue, and the running head "Rand, McNally & Co.'s Colorado" runs across the top between the atlas page numbers 504 and 505.
The state is laid out on a wide landscape sheet with its counties lettered across the plains and mountains, among them Weld, Washington, Arapahoe, Elbert, El Paso, Las Animas, Montrose and San Miguel. The railroads concentrate around Denver and the Front Range, run east across the plains, and wind through the mountain valleys of the interior toward the mining districts of the west and south. Rivers and mountain ranges are drawn across the sheet, and the state is bounded by the neighboring territories and states with their names lettered at the edges.
The map belongs to the period when the Colorado railroad network was expanding rapidly, tying the mining towns of the Rockies and the farming country of the eastern plains to Denver and to markets beyond the state.
