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YAGGY’S GEOGRAPHICAL ATLAS
Yaggy’s Geographical Study Comprising Physical Political Geological and Astronomical Geography. Composed by Levi Walter Yaggy. Chicago: Western Publishing House, 1887. Atlas folio, chromolithographed title with large vignette of the world, two chromolithographed plates (one double-page, one mounted as a front endpaper with three large overslips), one celestial chart mounted on card with five flaps opening to reveal opaque sections (two of these with moveable parts), seven double-page maps (two hemispheric world maps, and five maps of the continents), one hand-colored plaster-of-Paris relief map of the United States built into the rear endpaper, original cloth-covered wooden carrying case, with flaps and leather ties. First edition. An exceptionally rare children’s teaching aid and an important example of grand-scale color lithography in American printing history, including a rare hand-
painted relief map of the United States and one of the largest color plates ever produced. Constructed under the supervision of the American cartographer Henry Gannett, Yaggy’s extraordinary atlas provided students with a hands-on experiential geography lesson: levers move and flaps lift up to reveal sections of the continents, layers of the earth’s crust, parts of the solar system (rotation of the planets, phases of the moon, constellations, etc.); large-scale maps made especially “for class work” have dots for teachers to direct their pointers to specific cities and points of interest, and the impressive large relief map at the end.
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(MAPS)
A group of 10 maps of Italy. Size of largest 20 x 27 1/2 inches. $200-400 24
(MAPS)
A group of 14 maps of the world, North America, Africa and Mexico. Size of largest 22 x 24 3/4 inches. $200-400
A few tears to the maps and title page; lacking one of the metal levers for the astronomical chart, a 1-inch portion of the relief map (not a relief portion, southern Texas) has come detached, and there is some wear to the case. However, all of the flaps remain intact along with the original leather straps of the carrying case, and the lithography is still in excellent condition with very bright coloring. $2,000-4,000
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