The First Weather Map Printed in the U.S. (1838)

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2794

Here's another example of a book that I catalogued for the books-for-sale section of this blog that may be of some interest to general readers: the first weather map printed in the U.S. (1838). 

(Espy, James P) Robley Dunglison, A.D. Bache, James Espy, and others. "Report of the Committee on Meteorology to the Board of Managers of the Franklin Institute, embodying the facts collated by the Meteorologist relative to the storm of the 1 6^th, 17^th, and 18^th March, 1838." (The report is signed by Espy at the last line.)  Illustrated with a folding map, also by the pioneering Espy:“Map Embodying the Information Received by the Committee on Meteorology of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania in Relation to the Storm of March, 16th, 17th, & 18th, 1838, Illustrating the Report of the Meteorologist.,” and is a folding 23x27cm, and which was lithographed (“by steam”) by Duval in Philadelphia. In: Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Vol   22  (new series) vol 26 overall, July-December 1838, with text illustrations, and a folding map.

• [That piece at the bottom left corner is not missing--it is just folded back.]

This is the first weather map printed in the U.S. (The first weather map(s) to be printed by the U.S. government occurred with the same author, in 1850, in ESPY, James Pollard. (1785-1860) Letter of the Secretary of the Navy Transmitting the Report [containing] Second Report on Meteorology to the Secretary of the Navy (which is actually the) Third Report on Meteorology with Directions for Mariners, etc. Navy Department, Washington DC, March 13, 1850).

• “This is the first U.S. weather map. In his accompanying report, Espy states that the committee received back 50 responses from the 250 circulars it sent out to different parts of the United States and Canada regarding this notable storm. The map represents the assembled data, with reporting stations numbered from 1 to 50, roughly in order from south to north and from west to east as the storm was tracked. The three large circles show the eastern progress of the storm over the three days. Readings of barometric pressure, arrows for wind direction and relative strength, and descriptive words for precipitation/sky (rain/sleet/hail/snow, clear/fair/cloudy/heavy) are provided in the cells of small tables (three or four rows by two or three columns) printed next to each station number. Morning and evening results, if given, appear in adjacent cells of a row, and each row represents a different day (March 16, 17, 18, and sometimes 19). Like a time-delay photograph, the map nicely traces the regional movement of the storm, but graphic methods (shading, color, use of symbols) have not been developed yet to replace Espy’s data tables—FROM Harvard’s Mapping History site.

There are many other papers in the volume in different fields and of varying lengths and depths—it is the Espy though that is the heavyweight here, and supports the entire value of the volume.