The 1840's saw the first steps away from metal plate engraving for American maps with the cerographic process utilized by Sidney Morse, the son of Jedidiah Morse and brother of Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph.

This decade saw the last big spurt in creating counties with 8 new ones: Clarion (seat at Clarion) in 1840, Carbon (seat at Mauch Chunk, later named Jim Thorpe) in 1843, Elk (Ridgeway) in 1843, Wyoming (Tunkhannock) in 1843, Blair (Hollidaysburg) in 1846, Forest (Marienville then Tionesta) in 1848, Sullivan (Laporte) in 1848, and Lawrence (New Castle) in 1849. There were now 62 counties in the state.

	1840 THE NORTHEASTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES, engraved for N. P. Willis's American Scenery Illustrated. Drawn and engraved by W. Hughes, London. Published for the proprieters by Geo. Virtue, 26 Ivy Lane. American Scenery Illustrated contained drawings by W. H. Bartlett, and this map shows Bartlett's travels and the locations of the scenes he illustrated. Locations illustrated in Pennsylvania included Philadelphia, Columbia, Liverpool , Sunbury, Northumberland, Wilkes-Barre, the latter five all along the Susquehanna River. The travels from Maine to Virginia are shown as a hand drawn red line with the locations of scenes underlined. There is also an inset with part of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Pennsylvania is shown west to the Alleghenies. Virtue published American Scenery quarterly in 13 volumes to a list of subscribers. The volumes contained 236 steel engravings based on drawings by Bartlett with descriptive text by Willis. The publisher provided title pages and an index to engravings so that the volumes might be separated and rebound any way the subscriber wanted and differing volume numbers are seen. Listed on page 893 of Phillips. Longitude west from Greenwich. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 68 miles. Size: 8 x 10.5 inches.
	1841 THE MIDDLE STATES, page 35 from Geography for Children, the verso is text on page 36. This map is from The Village School Geography. Embellished with numerous engravings and ten neatly engraved maps, by a Teacher, Hartford, Reed and Barber circa 1841, which contained 128 pages of illustrations and maps. It shows New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware, and appears to have 1830 census data. A few towns are shown, including Shinersville north of Williamsport, which must have had some significance for the mapmaker. Longitude from Washington at top, Greenwich at bottom. Size: 4 x 4 inches.
	1842 PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY, page 31 from an atlas by Thomas Gamaliel Bradford, Boston dated c1840-43 by counties shown. Bradford's A Comprehensive Atlas Geographical, Historical & Commercial was published in 1835 (page 681 of Phillips) and 1838 (LeGear L32, L33) and this map may come from a still later edition. Bradford's maps have a clean look as this one shows. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 32 miles. Size: 9.5 x 11.5 inches.
	1843 PENNSYLVANIA , entered according to act of Congress in the year 1843 by Sidney R. Morse & Samuel Breese. This map is from the Cerographic Atlas of the United States, supplement to the New York Observer, S. E. Morse & Co., New York, 1842-45. It has been colored by the cerographic printing process (a type of lithography) which left a grid of very fine green lines and a thick green line for the county boundaries. LeGear (L36) says there were 32 color maps in the atlas. There are inserts of Philadelphia and the coal regions of Schuylkill and Carbon counties. Woodward gives a discussion of the cerographic process, which was also called wax engraving, and was cheaper than metal plate engraving, but did not produce as clean an image. Morse must have been aiming for cheapness, as the paper of this map is also of lower quality. Longitude from Washington at bottom, from Greenwich at top. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 22 miles. Size: 12 x 15 inches.
	1844 MAP OF THE CENTRAL STATES TO ILLUSTRATE OLNEY'S SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY, entered according to act of Congress in the year 1844 by D. F. Robinson. Drawn & eng. by Sherman & Smith, N. Y. The entire map includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia (no West Virginia yet), Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The 1840 census population is printed across the states and a legend for railroads, canals, and (pre-Civil War) battles included. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 46 miles. Size: 17 x 10.5.
	1845 NEUESTE KARTE VON PENNSYLVANIA MIT SEINEN CANAELEN, EISENBAHNER & C. , Plate 140 from Grosser Hand-Atlas by J. Meyer, Hildburghausen: verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts. The map is dated 1831-36 by the counties shown. Joseph Meyer published German language atlases in both Germany and Philadelphia in mid-century. The city, and southeastern Pennsylvania, had a large German population. An inset table gives town distances in German miles, and there are 12 different milage scales shown at bottom center, including English, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, etc. The topography is shown by detailed etching characteristic of German maps. This map is similar to earlier ones by Mitchell and Tanner with the Pennsylvania Canal profile across the top. There is also an 1849 version by Meyer similar to this one. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 24 miles. Size: 12 x 16 inches.
	1846 MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, from State Book of Pennsylvania Containing an Account of the Geography, History, Government, Resources and Noted Citizens of the State; with a Map of the State and of Each County, by Thomas H. Burrowes, Uriah Hunt & Son, 44 Fourth St., Philadelphia. This book was intended for Pennsylvania schools and has a 4.5 x 7 inch state map at the front shown here, and small 2 x 3 inch maps of each county, illustrated here by Westmoreland County .
	1847 MAP NO. 3. UNITED STATES, entered according to act of Congress in the year 1847 by Cady & Burgess. The map also includes New York and New Jersey. The verso is page 27 from a geography by R. C. Smith. The 1840 census population is shown on the map. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 50 miles. Size: 10.5 x 8.5 inches.
	1848 MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, Constructed from the County Surveys authenticated by the State; and other original Documents. Revised and Improved under the supervision of Wm. E. Morris Civil Engineer, upon data procured in each county, approved by the Philadelphia County Board under authority of the Legislature. Published by R. L. Barnes, NE corner of Seventh and Market Sts. Philadelphia 1848. Engraved by Edwd. Yeager. This large wall map, like John Melish's map of 1822, was prepared from state authorized county surveys. The counties are outlined in red with shades of brown (originally yellow?) used to differentiate townships. There are three tables on the bottom: county statistics, anthracite coal trade, public works. Wall maps from the 19th century seldom survive in good condition, and this one is no exception as these views of the title area and northwest show. Blank verso, longitude from Washington top and bottom. Scale: 1 inch = 4.25 miles. Size: 52 x 76 inches.
	1849 MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF THE OHIO & PENNSYLVANIA RAIL-ROAD TO CONNECT PITTSBURGH WITH THE GREAT WEST. Solomon R. Roberts Chief Engineer 1849. This is really more a map of Ohio and Indiana than Pennsylvania, but it shows the plans for extending rail lines through the midwest from Pittsburgh. It was plans like this that galvanized the businessmen and politicians of Philadelphia into building the Pennsylvania Railroad. Rail lines from Pittsburgh go straight west through Steubenville and north of the Ohio River into Ohio. The lines are marked to show those operating and planned. This map comes from: Report of the President and Directors of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad Company by Solomon W. Roberts, Chief Engineer, Philadelphia 1849. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 30 miles. Size: 9.25 x 15 inches.

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