Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
![[After Benjamin Wilson], THE REPEAL OR THE FUNERAL OF MISS AME[RICAN]=STAMP [No place, no date, but London, 1766].](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BRM3754-Wilson-The-Repeal-1766_lowres-150x150.jpg)
Important and scarce political cartoon lampooning the repeal of the Stamp Act under the administration of George Grenville, Prime Minister from 1763 to 1765. “One of the most famous and popular political satires commenting on the Stamp Act”. (Dolmetsch) Background As Prime Minster, George Grenville (1712-1770) was faced with restoring Britain’s finances and reducing the […]
![[George Callender, surveyor] [A Chart of the Harbour of Boston, Composed from Different Surveys, but Principally from that Taken in 1769, by Mr George Callender, Late Master of His Majesty’s Ship Romney.] [London]: J[oseph] F[rederick] W[allet] Des Barres, August 5, 1775.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRM4170-Des-Barres-Boston-Harbor-1775_lowres-scaled-e1667654623560-150x150.jpg)
The finest 18th-century chart of Boston Harbor in a desirable later state, with the addition of the extensive American fortifications erected during the 1775 siege. For its combination of accuracy and visual appeal this chart has never been surpassed. The chart depicts the environs of Boston, Boston Harbor and much of the coastline between Nahant […]
A landmark in the mapping of Massachusetts, being the first large-scale chart of Plymouth Bay and environs. This chart depicts the waters of Plymouth Bay, with its distinctive geography marked by two long barrier beaches. The hydrographic data includes tidal data and soundings along the channels into Plymouth and the Jones and Duxbury Rivers. The […]
![[Attributed to Christoph Heinrich Korn], Geshichte der Kriege in und ausser Europa Vom Anfange des Ausstandes der Brittischen Kolonien in Nordamerka an. [History of the Wars in and outside of Europe from the Beginning of the Revolt of the British Colonies in North America.] Nurnberg: Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe, 1776-1777.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRM1640-Raspe-Geschichte_map-1-Boston-and-title_lowres-150x150.jpg)
The earliest European chronicle of the American Revolution, issued while war was still raging. With numerous maps and views, including two based on important William Faden battle plans. Offered here in an early binding are the first eight parts of the Geschichte, devoted entirely to events in Great Britain’s American Colonies. The first part surveys […]
![Survey'd by Captain John Gascoigne / Engrav'd by Jefferys & Faden, Geographers to the King, A PLAN OF PORT ROYAL IN SOUTH CAROLINA. London, [1776?].](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRM1975-Gascoigne-Port-Royal-1776_lowres-150x150.jpg)
One of the finest charts of the southern coastline available to British mariners during the Revolution. The 25 miles of coast from Georgia’s Savannah River to Port Royal Sound, North Carolina was of great strategic import, encompassing as it did the superb harbor at Port Royal and the approaches to the city of Savannah. At […]
The finest contemporary plan of Montgomery and Arnold’s disastrous assault on Quebec in December 1775. In May 1775 a force under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured the British forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, from which were taken the cannon that ultimately enabled General Washington to drive the British from Boston. This opened a […]
![[Samuel Holland et al.] / “Lieutenant Knight of the Navy and Pilots,” THE COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. [London:] J.F.W. Des Barres, APRIL 24, 1776.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BRM3432-Holland_Des-Barres-Coast-New-England_lowres-e1573140367628-150x150.jpg)
By far the finest 18th-century depiction of the Coast of New England issued in The Atlantic Neptune to meet the needs of British navigators during the American Revolution. Description This monumental chart depicts the complex coast of New England from Passamaquoddy Bay south and west to Narragansett Bay. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of depth soundings are given, […]
![[J.F.W. Des Barres, [A View of Portsmouth in Piscataqua River.] London: J.F.W. Des Barres, ca. 1780-81.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/BRM3290-Des-Barres-Portsmouth-e1554324117121-150x150.jpg)
A very rare and quite lovely aquatint view of Portsmouth Hew Hampshire, which supplanted an inferior line engraving of the same subject in The Atlantic Neptune. Background In 1764 the Lord Commissioners of Trade & Plantations appointed engineer Samuel Holland as Surveyor General of the Northern District of North America. In this capacity he was […]
![[George Vaughan Hart], SKETCH of Part of the Island of STE. LUCIE, Compiled at about 2500 feet to an Inch. London: William Faden, November 5, 1781.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BRM4482A-Faden-Ste-Lucie-1781_2-of-2_lowres-150x150.jpg)
Uncommon map of the British landing and capture of the island of St. Lucia from the French during the American Revolutionary War, drawn by an eye-witness. Although a less well-known theatre of the Revolutionary War, there was considerable military and naval activity in the West Indies. Britain and France each sought to dislodge the other […]
![[Attributed to James Gillray (1756-1815)] / Published by W. Humphrey (1742?-before 1815), The TIMES, Anno 1783. No. 227 Strand, London, April 14th 1783.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BRM3768-Gillray-The-Times-1783_lowres-scaled-e1614986180118-150x150.jpg)
A scarce and entertaining James Gillray political cartoon skewering Great Britain’s loss of her American colonies. At the time of the print’s publication in April 1783, the American Revolutionary War was essentially over: On January 20 Great Britain, the United States, France and Spain signed the provisional treaty of peace, ending hostilities and recognizing American […]