Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
![[After Cyprian Southack and Augustine Fitzhugh], BOSTON HARBOR in NEW=ENGLAND. London: William Fisher and John Thornton, 1689-1698.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRM4323-Thornton-Boston-Harbor_recto_lowres-scaled-e1675876373969-150x150.jpg)
A great rarity, being the first large-scale printed map of the Boston area, the first printed chart of Boston Harbor, the first printed image to provide any detail for the town of Boston, and the first navigable chart of any harbor in North America. This remarkable work charts the Massachusetts waters between Marblehead and “Wamor” […]
![Governor [Thomas] Pownall (artist) / John Bowles et al. (publishers), A View of the City of Boston the Capital of NEW ENGLAND, in North America. London, ca. 1760 (first issued separately) / ca. 1768 (present issue).](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/BRM0849-Pownal-Boston-view-ca.-1768_lowres-scaled-e1578430070836-150x150.jpg)
An important early view of Boston, taken from the vantage point of Castle William across the Harbor to the southeast. From left to right one makes out South Cove, South Battery, Fort Hill, a line of vessels docked along Long Wharf, and the mouth of the Charles River. Behind Long Wharf are visible the three […]
![[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 rare, early view of Boston, unusual for being one of very few 18th-century views of the town printed in America. This charming view of Boston is taken from the vantage point of Castle William across the Harbor to the southeast. It was issued in the December 1787 number of The Columbian Magazine, and is […]
A scarce view of Boston Light, one of the few obtainable 18th-century views of an American lighthouse. The original Boston Light was built in 1716 on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. It was the first lighthouse built within the future United States, but was destroyed by the British as they evacuated the town […]
![Anonymous, VIOLENT STORM. Boston, October 15, 1804. Boston, [late October] 1804.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRM2131-Violent-Storm-in-Boston-1804-2-scaled-e1585253629539-150x150.jpg)
An unrecorded variant of an extremely rare broadside recounting the remarkable snow hurricane of 1804. The 1804 storm raged in Boston from Tuesday, October 9-Thursday, October 11, and observers were shocked by both its high winds and early-season snow: “The 1804 Snow hurricane was the first tropical cyclone in recorded history known to produce snowfall. An […]
An early and very rare broadside advertisement promoting a Boston-Albany rail connection. The railroad craze came relatively early to Massachusetts. By the late 1820s a number of lines had been proposed, including the Boston & Worcester Railroad and a Western Railroad linking Worcester and Albany. Backers hoped the legislature would step in and fund the projects for the greater good. This […]
A very rare, separately-issued map of Roxbury, Mass. Annexed to Boston in 1868, the town included the present-day neighborhoods of Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury and West Roxbury. Whitney’s map provides a detailed view of the natural and human geography of mid 19th-century Roxbury. Symbols and differential shading are employed to differentiate features of the […]
![N[athaniel] Henry Crafts (after James Slade) / Drawn by H. M. Wightman / Engraved by C. A. Swett, PLAN OF BOSTON, Corrected under the direction of … COMMITTEE ON PRINTING. of 1864 BY N. HENRY CRAFTS, CITY ENGINEER. 1864. Boston, 1864.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BRM3263-Boston-1864_lowres-scaled-e1690728655419-150x150.jpg)
The official map of the City of Boston for 1864, revised under the supervision of City Engineer N. Henry Crafts and providing a valuable snapshot of the city at a time of breakneck growth. In 1860 the city of Boston was expanding in just about every sense of the word: In just the past decade […]
A lovely chromolithographic view of the so-called New England Fair, the exhibition building of the New England Manufacturers and Mechanics Institute. Extremely rare in any form, but particularly unusual for being a publisher’s mockup, with extensive material in manuscript. In 1881 the building was the site of the first exhibition of the Institute, which organization […]