A. Johnson's Missouri and Kansas, by Johnson & Browning, circa 1860, hand color (23.1 x 17.1"). This handsome double-page map is dense with information. It locates both proposed and running railroads, trails, forts, and various Indian tribes, as well as the U.S. Mail Route, Santa Fe Road, and many other historic details. County development in Kansas is restricted to the eastern portion. This issue is adorned with three engraved vignettes: Santa Fe from the Great Missouri Trail, Fire on the Prairie, and Spearing Fish. Decorated with scrollwork borders. Condition: There is a 1.75" centerfold separation at top that has been closed with archival tape, light toning along the centerfold, a tiny wormhole, and faint scattered foxing. (B+)

B. Kansas and Nebraska, by Joseph Hutchins Colton, dated 1857, hand color (15.8 x 24.5"). This early map covers only the eastern quarter of the territories in a vertical configuration. Thirty-three counties are organized in Nebraska and 36 in Kansas. The Santa Fe Road originates in Kansas City. There is no sign yet of Wichita, and Topeka is just a little town, while the capital is shown as Lecompton. Several reservations and Indian tribes are located. Condition: There is a short centerfold separation that has been closed on verso with old paper, with an adjacent misfold running the length of the map, as well as light toning and offsetting, and a few scattered stains. (B)

C. [Untitled - Daily Illinois State Journal ... Volume X. - Number 183], published 1858, black and white (16.3 x 24.1"). This fascinating newspaper, published on January 18, 1858, by Bailhache and Baker, contains articles about the conflict in the aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Stories on page two detail the violence, fraud, and intrigue surrounding the vote on the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution, which was eventually rejected. The front page includes an excerpt from a speech against slavery in Missouri made by future politician Benjamin Gratz Brown, whose argument is based more on economics than ideas about liberty and human dignity. Condition: Some minor soiling and a light damp stain at top. (B+)

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Condition:

See description above.