New Inventory

The European Battle Fields! 1854

Colton's 1854 map titled The European Battle Fields! that portrays current scenes of the Crimean War fought in Europe is a finely drawn tableaux of two maps, imagery and illustrated scenes. The title of the full map appears below the composition's midline, punctuated with an exclamation point to indicate the currency and urgency of the subject. Russia, the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire were at war in Europe although other continents are involved. This 1854 map subject resonates today.

The Colton map of the Crimean War presents the combatants:  in the top left corner an oval vignette of St....

Map of the County of Berkshire Massachusetts. 1858.

Henry Francis Walling's1/ large scale, Map of the County of Berkshire Massachusetts, 1858 ("County of Berkshire Map ") is a decorated, topographical, trigonometric survey of Berkshire County, Massachusetts presenting the Berkshire Hills and this mountainous region on the westernmost edge of Massachusetts, its rivers, valleys, plains and its prospering towns and institutions at mid-19th century three years before the U.S. Civil War. The northern towns of Berkshire County burst beyond the map's top border. Homes, businesses, farms, taverns, mills and other developed locations are labeled by family name on the County of Berkshire Map. There are forty-eight (48) inset maps,...

Map of the City of Boston Massachusetts, 1926 - first edition

[Please see elsewhere on our web site under Publications an expanded article about the  Map of the City of Boston Massachusetts 1926 that discusses the mapping of Boston and images of the City.]
 

The large scale Map of the City of Boston Massachusetts of 1926 (the "1926  Boston City Map") is the first municipal map to be published in the history of the city. The City of Boston Planning Board's decision to publish this wall map as the foundation for its current work was made in the historic context of that year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court zoning...

Economy of the Pacific 1940

What can one say about a Miguel Covarrubias work of art except that it is a riot of color and form. This multi-color lithograph is a pictorial map of the Pacific Ocean region and a work of art using the format of a map to present a view of the world as an organic form united by the ocean.  Economic activity and human culture are represented figuratively and with toy like symbols, on land and sea, making even oil derricks appear benign. The ocean itself is alive with life. A burlap sack held aloft by two strong, dark hands presents...

Parker Guide Map City of Cambridge, (Massachusetts) 1934

The Parker Map Co.'s 1934 Street and Historical Guide Map of the City of Cambridge presents both the street plan of Cambridge and its small business owners as they emerged from the Depression of 1929. The Street-Guide with its alphabetical index of streets is decorated with three pictorial vignettes: the Washington Elm under which in 1775 George Washington became Commander of the newly constituted Continental Army as "Under the Elm Tree he took formal command of the American Army July 3rd"; the Cambridge Post Office 1934; and Harvard Memorial Chapel. In the map's lower right corner a small inset "Historical...

Engineer's Topographical Range Map of Sevastopol, c.1856

This detailed pictorial map illustrates the battlefield of the Crimean War, as drawn contemporaneously by a "French Engineer" on the ground as the text in the lower margin explains accompanied his map sent to Louis Napoleon with a clay model of Sebastopol "for which he received a Diamond Snuff Box." The publisher further explains that "The Chart can be relied upon as the most truthful, instructive and comprehensive Map of the War Ground that has been published in this country of Europe." The reference to "this country" is to the United States.

A small inset map titled  "New Map of...

Colton's Map of Central Europe, 1859

There appears to be little written about this separately published, hard to find large scale 1859 Colton's Map of Central Europe with an inset Map of the Seat of War. The historical subject of Colton's 1859 map is the Italian Second War of Independence also known as the Franco-Austrian War.  Thus the map was published contemporaneously with this event. The large Colton's Map of Central Europe, and the small inset Map of the Seat of War are framed by an acanthus leaf border, countries are outlined in red,  each country in a contrasting color with detailed geographic and political features....

A New Map of the Crimea and Sea of Azof,1856

The format of A New Map of the Crimea and Sea of Azof resembles a war newsmap which is appropriate for a map published contemporaneously with the Crimean War. It is also pertinent one hundred and sixty-seven years later today with Russia's February 24, 2022 invasion of the Ukraine and renewed attention to the region. The latest battle information labeled on the 1856 map appears to be September 8, 1855. The format of this map includes geography, topography, other graphic art in an oval inset map with 55 numbered reference notes and battle locations with dates and outcomes. The map...

Map of Boston and Its Vicinity, 1859

This large scale, colorful and scarce map of Boston and surrounding towns as surveyed in 1859 captures Boston just before the Civil War. The scale of this map permits a close view of the street level aspect both of Boston and of its neighboring towns as far west as Lexington. The highly developed wharf line of Boston, South Boston, East Boston and the Mystic River are drawn in fine detail. The depths of the Boston Harbor waters are shown and the deep channel into the Central or Long Wharf based on U.S. Coast Surveys. The map incorporates work from Henry...

Boston, 1857 (with manuscript proof approval verso)

This distinctively inscribed example of the 1857 print Boston, is a period, colored  steel plate engraving by Charles Mottram (1807-1876), one of London's most esteemed plate engravers who has translated in the medium of engraving the large 1853 water color painting Boston by British born American artist John William Hill (1812-1879) who apprenticed as a youth with his father John Hill, an English aquatint engraver. 1/ J.W. Hill's expansive 1853 view of busy Boston Harbor is from a slightly elevated waterfront vantage point likely in East Boston and includes Boston and vicinity.  It is midday and bright, the season warm...

Space Age (1959)

Space Age is a colorful, imaginative and defining composition. This poster was drawn by the artist Richard Amundsen who worked in San Francisco in the art studio Patterson & Hall. His identity and the identification of all of the imagery in his poster are discussed by Atomic Rockets using colorful art work, labeling and other research. Please see the citation below. The illustrated article takes each labeled Space Age invention as shown in the poster, and presents its inventor, most frequently Wernher von Braun with context about where these inventions might lead. The popular magazine Collier's ran a series of...

New and Correct Map of the Lines of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Fall 1883

This New and Correct Map of the Northern Pacific Railroad is the Fall, 1883, November edition of the map that announces the completion by the Northern Pacific Railroad of the first northern transcontinental route from St. Paul, Minnesota through the northwestern territories to Portland, Oregon. The final spike ceremony for the line had been held on September 8, 1883 in Gold Creek, Montana with more work yet to be done. 1/ The ultimate goal as outlined in the Northern Pacific Railroad's 1864 Congressional charter was a rail connection between the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. This goal took until 1888...