{"product_id":"old-county-map-of-ontario-by-mitchell-1868-toronto-ottawa-hamilton-london-kitchener-berlin","title":"Old County Map of Ontario by Mitchell, 1868: Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Kitchener (Berlin)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMap of Ontario in Counties is Samuel Augustus Jr. Mitchell’s confident portrait of a province on the cusp of modern nationhood, issued in 1868 with a copyright imprint of 1867 as part of Mitchell’s New General Atlas. The composition marries bright, discriminating color to an ornate border and finely engraved cartouches, elevating administrative fact into visual pleasure. County tints lock neatly along crisply drawn lines, while a clear scale bar invites precise measurement of overland distances. In a characteristically Mitchellian touch, longitude is referenced to both Greenwich and Washington, D.C., a dual system that aligned his geography with British and American conventions alike. The result is a sheet that is at once authoritative and lucid, balancing decorative flourish with hard-working, navigable detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIssued at the moment of Canadian Confederation, the map captures Ontario’s administrative reorganization as the Province of Canada divided into Ontario and Quebec in 1867. County demarcations register the legal scaffolding of settlement, taxation, and justice, while the province’s striking hydrography—Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Georgian Bay—sets the stage for trade and migration. The Ottawa River frames the northeast; the Thames and Grand Rivers thread through the southwest; and gentle hill shading hints at the Niagara Escarpment’s long arc. Borders with New York and Michigan appear naturally along the Niagara and Detroit river corridors, underscoring the cross-border economy that tied ports and mills to Great Lakes shipping. Every tint and line conveys the mid-19th-century logic of land, law, and water.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMitchell labels a constellation of rising towns that would anchor Ontario’s growth. Toronto, the bustling lakeside entrepôt, sits within historic York County; Ottawa, newly affirmed as the national seat, appears upriver with direct orientation to the St. Lawrence system. Hamilton lies snug against the harbor curve of the western Lake Ontario shore; London centers fertile Middlesex; Windsor fronts the strategic Detroit River; St. Catharines commands the Niagara peninsula; and Guelph marks Wellington’s interior. The map also notes the community later known as Kitchener (then Berlin), emblematic of the German-rooted settlements of Waterloo County. Together these urban names, set amid a mosaic of townships and concessions, reveal the province’s developing hierarchy of markets, magistracies, and roads, each county color guiding the eye from lake port to inland farm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSamuel Augustus Mitchell Jr., heir to one of America’s most influential cartographic houses, brought a publisher’s discipline and a designer’s eye to this atlas series. Building on his father’s legacy, he refined a house style distinguished by vivid but legible color, consistent iconography, and meticulous updates keyed to political change. His choice to cite both Greenwich and Washington meridians reflects an astute awareness of his transatlantic audience, as does the atlas’s balance of national, regional, and county plates. Mitchell’s work thrived in a competitive market—promoted through energetic advertising and aimed at schools, parlors, and countinghouses—by promising dependable orientation in a swiftly changing world. This Ontario plate exemplifies that promise: exacting in boundary detail, generous in geographic context, and attuned to the questions educated readers were asking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAesthetically, the sheet maintains the high Victorian taste for ornament without sacrificing clarity. The arabesque border frames a field of impeccably set type, with county names, townships, rivers, and lakes arrayed in a hierarchy that reads at a glance yet rewards closer study. Toned hill forms lend topographic relief; waterways are drawn with supple confidence; and the measured lattice of lines and numerals translates space into intelligible distance. Insets and motifs are restrained to preserve focus on the provincial canvas, while brief peeks into New York and Michigan acknowledge Ontario’s porous frontiers. As an artifact of a pivotal decade—when jurisdiction caught up with settlement and a new capital took its place—the map is an elegant synthesis of beauty and exactitude, the civil order of counties laid gracefully over the drama of the Great Lakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCities and towns on this map\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eToronto: Modern population around 2.8 million\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOttawa: Modern population around 1 million\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHamilton: Modern population around 570,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLondon: Modern population around 400,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKitchener: Modern population around 250,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSt. Catharines: Modern population around 140,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWindsor: Modern population around 230,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGuelph: Modern population around 130,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotable Features \u0026amp; Landmarks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eColoring: Vibrant colors delineating various counties.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCartographic Scale: Scale rendering for measurement of distances.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCounty Borders: Clear demarcations of county lines across Ontario.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGeographical Features: Rivers, lakes, and hills indicated through color and contour.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCities and Towns: Human settlements labeled across different counties.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOrnate Border: Decorative border adding to the visual appeal.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical and design context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMapmaker\/Publisher: Created by Samuel Augustus Jr. Mitchell\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDate Made: 1868 (with copyright dating back to 1867)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAtlas Title: Part of \"Mitchell's New General Atlas\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrime Meridians Used: Greenwich and Washington, D.C.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesign Style: Full-color representation enhancing clarity, with an ornate border and detailed cartouches, reflecting innovative cartographic practices of the 19th century.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical Significance: The atlas is notable for its portrayal of evolving regions during a period marked by territorial expansion and population growth in North America.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCommercial Context: Includes a tipped-in broadside advertisement for marketing Mitchell’s General Atlas, providing insight into the commercial landscape of the time.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAesthetic Qualities: Beautifully bound in embossed half-leather with gilt-stamped titles, showcasing craftsmanship and decorative value.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eContent Overview: The atlas features a comprehensive collection of county maps, presented in vibrant color, highlighting the geographical features and municipalities of the regions.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003ebest old maps\u003c\/a\u003e to see if something else catches your eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003econtact me\u003c\/a\u003e to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex\/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Map","offer_id":57584757440896,"sku":"UM00264226A","price":54.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57584757473664,"sku":"UM00264227A","price":145.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":57584757506432,"sku":"UM00264228A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":57584757539200,"sku":"UM00264229A","price":54.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57584757571968,"sku":"UM00264230A","price":145.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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