JAMES HALL

Published 1843, New York

Size: 23" X 32"

Description:

A beautiful, informative and important rare geological map of the American North East and mid Western States including parts of Upper and Lower Canada.  This landmark map of the geology of the Great Lakes region including parts of Wisconsing, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Indianna, Michigan, and Ohio, was published in James Hall’s Natural History of New York, Part IV in 1843.  Hall’s map and his work on the geology of the area is of great importance due to the fact that it was one of the first maps to use the “New York System” of stratigraphy devised by the New York Geological Survey which had begun it’s work on the geology and natural history of New York State in 1836.  Hall, along with other renown geologists, such as Lardner Vanuxem and Timothy Conrad developed their stratigraphic system based on the local geography of the area being studied.  His final report, relating to the survey, would be published as the Natural History of New York, and would become an important work in the field of geology.
Hall’s on going studies and the stature afforded to him by the publishing of the Natural History of New York, allowed him to build a laboratory and training centre for geologist in Albany, NY.  This centre was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Other contributions to the field of geology and palaeontology, beyond his numerous surveys and publishings, include his being named as the first president of the Geological Society of America, a founding member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the International Geologic   
Congress.  Hall also was an elected member of the Geological Society of London in 1848, where he received the Wollaston Medal, the highest award bestowed by this institution, and the French Academy of Sciences in 1884. 
Hall’s map is thus important not only for the historical information that it conveys, but also because it is associated with a giant in the field of American geological and scientific studies.
(Note: This map is owned jointly with Geographicus Rare Antique Maps.)