Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
![[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 […]
An early and important guide to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers by Zadock Cramer, including no fewer than 28 maps. “[O]ne of the most useful guide-books ever published and the detailed descriptions, revised from time to time, make it especially useful to the historical student today.” (Solon Buck, Travel and Description 1765-1865, p. 9) This […]
![Mary H. L. Craig, A map of the United States drawn by Mary H. L. Craig at the Domestic Academy.[Washington County, Kentucky, ca. 1813-14.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/BRM2822-Craig-East-United-States-after-Shelton-and-Kensett_edited_lowres-scaled-e1686164503496-150x150.jpg)
A most unusual patriotic manuscript map by an American schoolgirl remarkable for its Kentucky origins, interesting subject matter, pleasing design, relatively good condition, and superb provenance. “School” maps are frequently encountered on the antiquarian market; indeed, we have handled perhaps two dozen in the past decade. However, the vast majority of surviving examples were produced […]
![Aaron Arrowsmith sr., A MAP OF THE UNITED STATES of NORTH AMERICA Drawn from a number of Critical Researches By A. ARROWSMITH, Hydrographer to H.R.H. His Majesty No. 10 SOHO SQUARE Additions to 1819. [London: Aaron Arrowsmith, prob. 1820.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/BRM4308-Arrowsmith-United-States-1819_20-lowest-res-150x150.jpg)
A new discovery, being the final known state of Arrowsmith’s landmark wall map of the United States. The map depicts the United States well west of the Mississippi River, including all of Louisiana and much of the Missouri Territory. The Florida peninsula is shown by an inset in the Atlantic, and two flaps extend the […]
An unusual, charming and very rare atlas of the United States assembled as a “travelling” atlas. One of only four known examples. The atlas contains 39 sheets in all, including maps of North America, the United States, 28 states and territories, Mexico, South America, and five South-American countries, as well as two sheets bearing comparative […]
The first historical atlas of the United States, by pioneering educator Emma Willard, who in the service of her broader mission became America’s first female map maker. Willard’s atlas features twelve single- or double-sheet maps, beginning with an “introductory map” of the “locations and wanderings of the aboriginal tribes.” Though Native American peoples had long been […]
![Engraved by G[eorge] W. Boynton / [Printed by Joseph Willard Tuttle], A MAP OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE LATEST SURVEYS. WITH THE HEIGHT OF MOUNTAINS And length of the PRINCIPAL RIVERS. PATENT. Boston: [Tremont Print Company? Joseph Willard Tuttle?], 1841.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/BRM3270-Tuttle_Boynton-United-States-textile-1841_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A rare and decorative 1841 handkerchief map of the United States printed on pongee silk, one of only four early American cartographic textiles identified in Threads of History. Tuttle’s map depicts the United States to 24 degrees west of Washington, including parts of the territory just west of the Missouri River and of the Republic […]
![Jerome B[onaparte] Holgate / G.W. Boynton, engraver, ATLAS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. ON A NOVEL PLAN. PRESENTING, AT ONE VIEW, THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY, FROM ITS DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME…. DESIGNED TO BE THE SAME TO HISTORY THAT MAPS ARE TO GEOGRAPHY. [Cambridge, Mass?]: 1842.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/BRM3324-Holgate-Atlas-American-History-1842_title_lowres-e1560870213366-150x150.jpg)
Jerome Holgate’s Atlas of American History, an ambitious, interesting but unsuccessful attempt to compile and synthesize American history in graphic form. Inspired by the chronological charts of Joseph Priestley and Emmanuel de las Cases (writing pseudonymously as A. le Sage), some time in the 1830s author Jerome Holgate (1812-1893) conceived of an ambitious, five-part series […]
![E[phraim] Gilman, Draftsman, / P. S. Duval’s Lithy. Philada., [Untitled map of the United States.] Washington, D.C., 1848.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/BRM4143-Gilman-United-States-1848_lowres-scaled-e1661278654687-150x150.jpg)
A fascinating map of the United States prepared in late 1848 to accompany President James Polk’s final annual message to Congress. The map was drawn on short notice by Ephraim Gilman, at the time the Principal Draftsman of the General Land Office. Gilman’s map depicts the United States as a trans-continental power, a status achieved […]
A striking and scarce 1862 case map of the United States by Joseph Hutchins Colton, one of the country’s most prolific and enduring 19th-century map publishers, with vibrant coloring to highlight the state of the Union early in the Civil War. This appealing map depicts the United States westward to the Great Plains and with […]