Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in antique American maps & prints
![Chieko Shiomi [and George Maciunas], spatial poem no. 2[:] a fluxatlas[:] THIS IS THE RECORD OF VARIOUS DIRECTIONS TO WHICH PEOPLE WERE SIMULTANEOUSLY MOVING OR FACING AROUND 10PM ( GREENWICH TIME ) OCTOBER 15TH 1965. [NP:] Fluxus, 1966/reprinted 1992.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BRM3173-Shiomi-Fluxatlas-1965_1992-map-lowres-scaled-e1607457245196-150x150.jpg)
A crowdsourced cartographic work documenting a moment on October 15, 1965, spatial poem no. 2 was the second of nine such events staged by artist Chieko Shiomi. In 1964 Japanese artist and composer Chieko (or Mieko) Shiomi (1938- ) was invited to New York City by George Maciunas, founder of the Fluxus network of artists, […]
An entertaining 1987 persuasive map offering a liberal caricature of the world view of President Ronald Reagan. The map uses a pictorial style to depict the United States and Soviet Union wildly out of scale with the rest of the world. Reagan in full gunfighter regalia stands astride a hypertrophied California, while a dour Gorbachev, […]
![GREENHAM WOMEN AGAINST CRUISE [:] CRUISE THREATENS PEACE AND BREAKS THE LAW [:] 9th Nov ’83 take President Reagan to Court in the USA. NP, ND, but England, ca. Oct. 1983.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/BRM3037-Greenham-Women-aganst-Cruise-1983_lowres-scaled-e1586449975582-150x150.jpg)
A rare 1983 persuasive map by the English anti-nuclear group Greenham Women Against Cruise Missiles, highlighting the deployment of American ground-launched cruise missiles around Great Britain. In 1979 the Carter Administration agreed with its NATO allies to deploy several dozen ground-launched cruise missiles to the RAF air bases at Greenham Common and Molesworth, Great Britain, […]
![[After David Horsey], THE WORLD ACCORDING TO RONALD REAGAN. Information Center of the World Peace Council , [1982-83?].](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/BRM3543-World-According-to-Ronald-Reagan-scaled-e1586699863308-150x150.jpg)
An entertaining persuasive map from the early years of the Ronald Reagan Presidency, published by the Helsinki-based World Peace Council and offering a liberal caricature of the Great Communicator’s world view. The map depicts the United States and Soviet Union wildly out of scale with the rest of the world. The United States is divided […]
![[ American Museum of Natural History ] Scientists believe these parts belong to one animal… They have named it Elongatomous… [New York: American Museum of Natural History], no date.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BRM3860-Elongatomous-Museum-of-Natural-History_lowres-scaled-e1630695728886-150x150.jpg)
A fantastically whimsical imaginary map featuring the continent-spanning Elongatomous, issued to promote the dinosaur fossil exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Elongatomous, apparently, was a two-headed, continent-spanning lizard, whose “scale caused it no end of problems. When the head was attacked in Florida, three weeks passed before a […]
![Rivers / Photo by Malcolm Varon / Printed by Colorcraft Offset, Inc., America Needs MCGOVERN. HE CAN PUT IT TOGETHER. [New York?: McGovern presidential campaign? 1972.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BRM3885-America-Needs-McGovern-1972-scaled-e1629649760834-150x150.jpg)
A striking, quirky and quite rare poster for the catastrophic 1972 presidential campaign of South Dakota Senator George McGovern. The 1972 campaign took place against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, ongoing cultural upheavals and the still-fresh memories of Kent State and the assassinations of two Kennedys and Martin Luther King. I was only five […]
Adz Gayzette, which ran under variant titles from 1970-1972, was a free newspaper targeting the San Francisco gay community. In addition to occasional news reporting, it provided a weekly calendar of events, classifieds and personals, an advice column and more. Despite the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and the newly-emergent Gay Pride movement, one source describes […]
![[ OSPAAAL ] [René] Mederos, [Untitled propaganda poster attacking President Nixon’s policies in Southeast Asia.] [Havana]: Organization of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa & Latin America, 1971.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BRM3884-Nixon-as-vulture-1971_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A rare and haunting propaganda map attacking Nixon Administration policies in Indochina, published at the height of the Vietnam War by OSPAAAL, a Cuba-based organization promoting solidarity between the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The poster features a map of Southeast Asia, with North Vietnam and Laos overprinted blood-red and shown in the […]
![[Title of recto translating to “Vietnam in Battle” / title of verso translating to “The Power of People’s War is Incomparable; The Tet Offensive Victory is Earth-Shaking.”]. Beijing: Ditu chubanshe (Cartographic Publishing House), distributed by Xinhua shudian, February 1968.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BRM3612-Fighting-Vietnam-1968_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A Communist Chinese propaganda poster featuring two persuasive maps of Vietnam and touting the supposed success of the Tet Offensive. Published in February 1968 during or just after the Offensive. Launched on January 30, 1968 by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) acting in coordination, the Tet Offensive was a massive surprise […]
![[ Bathymetric chart ] Made Available by A. B. Rechnitzer and R. D. Terry Deep Submergence Systems / Staff Artist, Ken Hodges, BATHYMETRY OF THE PACIFIC BASIN. Anaheim, CA: North American Aviation/Autonetics, 1965.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BRM3902-Bathymetry-of-the-Pacific-Basin-1965_lowres-150x150.jpg)
Put simply, a bathymetric chart is a form of thematic map depicting submerged topography, just as topographic maps depict terrestrial topography. This is usually accomplished by means of contour lines, often augmented by differential shading or coloring to highlight variations in depth. The earliest bathymetric charts were based on compilations of hundreds or thousands of […]