Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in antique American maps & prints
A rare volume offering an early plan for American independence, with a visionary map of the future United States, possibly the first published proposal for dividing the trans-Appalachian territory into new colonies. This far-sighted work argues “that by granting the Colonists an unrestrained civil Freedom and Legislative Independence, we may most effectually secure their future […]
A fine example of the very rare second state of J. B. Eliot’s map of the United States, with additional annotations in a contemporary hand. The first state of the map, issued in 1778, is believed to be the earliest printed map to name the “United States.” Eliot’s attractive map depicts the colonies from southern […]
A fine separately-issued map, among the earliest to depict the boundaries of the United States established by the Treaty of Paris and with a contemporary plan of the Yorktown campaign. The map depicts North America from Newfoundland to Florida and west just beyond the Mississippi River. Its most significant feature is the line of small […]
A hitherto-unknown set of 18th-century American geographical playing cards possibly by Boston engraver and publisher John Norman. Following the Revolution, many Americans advocated the development of what might be called an “indigenous” geographic literature, produced by Americans for an American audience. By educating the citizenry about the American landscape, it was believed that this new canon […]
A lovely old-color example of one of the earliest maps to name the United States, indicate its borders per the Treaty of Paris, and depict the Stars and Stripes. Per the subtitle, Brion de la Tour compiled the map from various English maps and other sources, as well as the boundaries set by the Treaty […]
An early map of the United States bearing a number of interesting and unusual features. Among these are the idiosyncratic border between Maine and New Brunswick; the lands of the Ohio Company and its settlement at Marietta; and the proliferation of forts marking the progress of the Federal Government’s westward advance. Of particular note for […]
A rare and important separately-published map of the United States, based on Samuel Lewis’s 1795 and Aaron Arrowsmith’s 1796 maps of the country as well as other unnamed sources. The map was almost certainly compiled by famed German mapmaker Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann, perhaps to accompany his rare suite of ten state maps issued in the […]
A rare and important separately-published map of the United States, based on Samuel Lewis’s 1795 and Aaron Arrowsmith’s 1796 maps of the country as well as other unnamed sources. The map was almost certainly compiled by famed German mapmaker Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann, perhaps to accompany his rare suite of ten state maps issued in the […]
A map of the United States rendered in Ottoman Turkish, from a pioneering attempt to import western geographic knowledge into the Islamic world. This elegant map appeared in the Cedid Atlas Tercümesi (“Translation of a New Atlas”), published during Sultan Selim III’s Mizam-I Cedid reforms as part of a broader effort to import western learning […]
A rare cartographic landmark, including the earliest depiction of the Louisiana Purchase in its entirety and a late depiction of the proposed State of Franklinia. Owned in partnership with Barry Ruderman Antique Maps and High Ridge Books. Issued in August 1804, this is the first published map to show the entire Louisiana Purchase as part […]