INTERNATIONAL TOPOGRAPHICAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE Between the Atlantic Seaboard and the Missouri River, Containing A Large Map in Colors, Correct time Tables of Railroads, Comprising the Great Central, Northern and Southern Routes, Together With Descriptions of Cities, Villages and Points of Interest, Compiled From Authentic Sources

[1856 RAIL ROAD GUIDE; GREAT CENTRAL ROUTE; AMERICANA; RARE] INTERNATIONAL TOPOGRAPHICAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE Between the Atlantic Seaboard and the Missouri River, Containing A Large Map in Colors, Correct time Tables of Railroads, Comprising the Great Central, Northern and Southern Routes, Together With Descriptions of Cities, Villages and Points of Interest, Compiled From Authentic Sources, Publications Office Niagara Falls, Where All Communications Must Be Addressed, Niagara Falls, 1856 [W. E. Tunis, publisher], somewhat worn copy with worn map, 3-3/4"x 5-1/2", 172 pages (numbered 1-143, followed by unnumbered pages for ads, last two pages are Contents and Index to Railroads numbered 171-172), organization is pages 15-80 sections for major railroad regions identifying railroads leading from these with naming of the stops of cities and towns along a route with descriptions of these varying in length depending on their size and importance including variously distances to other cities and towns, notable buildings and sites, scenery, ambience, and historical background, the major regions are New York City, Albany and Troy, and Niagara Falls and Vicinity including the last section Northern Route from Niagara Falls to Montreal, pages 82-143 are Rail Road Time Tables for 55 railroads including a few branch railroads and one rail road steamboat line, pages 171-172 are Contents listing 92 cities and towns and Index to Railroads listing about 50 railroads, folded map in front 14" high x 26" across with a narrow border (worn with tears and circular hole about 2" diameter), routes and titling in red, "International Rail Road Guide of the Great Central Route" (top) and "Published at Niagara Falls" (bottom), vignettes/scenes at four corners, steam locomotive with passenger cars (upper left), Quebec (upper right), Niagara Falls (lower left), view of the Mammoth Suspension Bridge over the Niagara River (lower right), map worn with tears at some folds and circular hole 2" in diameter, front cover missing, back cover detached but present laid in, "Bradford Stark Co." handwritten in pencil on back of map, the notes on the many cities and towns connected by the railroad system relate not only facts of interest to the traveler, but also often quaint points and details of a locale with the implication that rail road travel would make accessible new experiences for the traveler, e. g., for Middletown, NY, "Seventy-seven miles from New York. This is a village equally as large, but not so beautiful as Goshen — though surpassing it in the extent of its manufactures. It is in the midst of a rich and highly cultivated country, and wears a prosperous look. A few miles farther on, the road leaves the pleasant pastoral fields, and enters a more rolling and mountainous tract, and eventually overcoming the mountain through a rocky cut fifty feet deep and 2500 in length, and reaching the Delaware Valley by a down grade of forty and eighty feet to the mile for the curved and straight sections…the mountain appears in all its savage grandeur…the enchanting valley of the Neversink burst upon the vision…The Neversink is crossed by a substantial bridge fifty-five feet above the stream, with a span of 150 feet. Next is Otisville, population 1500"…the section on New York City is about 4 pages; RARE, 1 copy only of original 1856 copy found online recorded at WorldCat/OCLC (11/23/21), New York Public Library, 1858 copies recorded at New York State Library and Harvard, a couple of print-on-demand copies found for sale online (11/23/21), an original copy of a mid-19th century American railroad guide uniquely presenting period details of cities and towns, ways of life, scenery, and railroad travel for an expanding nation /// CONDITION: see flaws noted above throughout description, pages lightly age-toned, dogears to some pages, worn copy as described complete with binding intact. keywords: Americana, 1800's travel guide, social history, geography