In order to provide a
living picture
of America and to entice his fellow countrymen to emigrate to the United States, John Melish published in 1812 his
Travels through the United States of America, in the years 1806 & 1807, and 1809, 1810, & 1811; including an account of passages betwixt America and Britain, and travels through various parts of Britain, Ireland, & Canada,
a work that has come to be seen as an objective portrait of America in the early nineteenth-century. Born in Scotland, where he began his career in the textile industry, Melish visited the United States several times beginning in 1806, finally deciding to settle in Philadelphia in 1811. In the preface to this work, Melish notes:
as I have always considered books of travels to be very defective when unaccompanied by maps, I have spared no labour, nor expence [sic], to have a good set of maps to illustrate this work.
These were Melish’s first maps, and they formed the basis for his later career in cartography. These first-hand maps focused on cities, towns, or transportation hubs and included topography and information on local settlements and roads, predominantly covering the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West. Considered to be some of the best local maps of the time, they were regularly updated with each publication. Melish’s maps came to dominate the cartography industry in America, and he set the standard for future American map-makers.