Boston Rare Maps

Specializing in antique American maps & prints

Recent acquisitions

An unusually voluminous record of an 18th-century Bristol County, Massachusetts surveyor

An unusually voluminous record, nearly 400 pages in all, covering five decades of the education and surveying career of an 18th-century Bristol County, Massachusetts soldier and community leader. John Crane was born in 1731 in the Bristol County, Massachusetts town of Berkeley, where he resided at least long enough to be educated. Some time in […]

Recently-discovered 18th-c. watercolor view of New York City

A recently-discovered watercolor of New York City, contemporary with the Stamp Act Riots and one of only a handful of manuscript views of the city from before the Revolution. Artist Pieter Idsertsz depicts New York as seen from the southwest, from a vantage point across the East River in Brooklyn, possibly at Red Hook. The city […]

An early manuscript map of the New York City area, with provenance to one of the U.S. Navy’s first frigate captains

An early manuscript map of what is now New York City, based closely on William Bradford’s New Map of the Harbour of New York, one of the great rarities of 18th-century American cartography. Like the Bradford map, our manuscript depicts New York and northeastern New Jersey from roughly present-day Marlboro Township in the southwest, to Little Falls in […]

Late 18th-century manuscript plan of Boston, after Osgood Carleton

An early manuscript plan of Boston, based on Osgood Carleton’s 1796 plan of the city and perhaps rendered by a Boston-area schoolboy or schoolgirl. Carleton’s plan, and this carefully-rendered copy, depicted Boston in greater detail than any map of the town since the American Revolution. The street layout is shown and all streets named, as […]

Early 19th-century American manuscript map of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Stream

A most unusual manuscript map of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Stream, based on a map in Bowditch’s New American Practical Navigator but with interesting additions. The map depicts the East Coast of North America, the Caribbean, Central America, the West Coast of Africa, the coasts of northern Spain and France, and of course the […]

Five early 19th-century Kentucky school maps, drawn by members of one family

An appealing and varied group of ink-and-watercolor school maps from the early years of the 19th century, remarkable for their Kentucky origins, interesting subject matter, pleasing design, relatively good condition, and superb provenance. The group includes a double-hemisphere map of the world, a map of the United States copied from Shelton & Kensett’s 1813 Improved Map […]

A remarkable work of educational folk art

A unique and utterly charming early 19th-century manuscript visual compendium, combining cartography and natural history and most likely executed for classroom or tutorial use. The composition features a central map of Europe, likely based on one from Johannes Walch’s Allgemeiner Atlas, first issued in 1803. The map is surrounded by a plethora of finely-detailed vignettes: portraits […]

Wonderful 1826 world map by a Hingham, Mass. schoolgirl

An attractive and unusually large manuscript world map by a Hingham, Massachusetts schoolgirl. The map is projected on a double hemisphere, with the continents in very appealing pastel wash and outline color and major topographical and riverine features delicately delineated. The map is dated 1826, but the geography reflects a late 18th century world view, […]

A refined manuscript plan of a European-style siege, drawn at West Point in 1832

A large, finely-rendered manuscript plan of the siege of a European-style fortress, drawn in 1832 at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The plan shows the methodical investment and capture of the fortress over the course of a month, using color coding to indicate day-by-day progress of the siege works. The basic siege […]

1860 manuscript plan of Jefferson Louisiana, soon to be annexed by New Orleans

Jefferson City Louisiana before its annexation by New Orleans, hand drawn by a prominent surveyor. Background The population of the areas just upriver from New Orleans began to grow after the opening in 1833 of the St. Charles and Carrollton Railroad. In 1846 the area between Toledano and Eleonore Streets was incorporated as the Borough […]

South Carolina Brigadier James Simons informs Governor Pickens about “the inexpediency of commencing…hostilities” at Fort Sumter

An important letter addressed to South Carolina Governor Pickens by Brigadier General James Simons. Writing on New Years Day 1861, early in the secession crisis, Simons reviews the tactical situation in Charleston Harbor and strongly recommends against any aggressive action against Fort Sumter, which had been occupied by Federal forces on December 27th. Simons’ frank […]

Attractive Lamar County, Texas manuscript survey by a family patriarch

An interesting and most decorative survey of lands in Lamar County, Texas by the hand of the patriarch of a family, in which land bequests to various family members are laid out and precisely described. Best as I can glean from census records, John Onstott (1802-1874) of North Carolina and Mary Polly Wood (1806-1879) of South […]

Manuscript plan of Dover, Oklahoma Territory, a primary stopover on the Chisholm Trail

An 1892 manuscript plan of Dover Oklahoma, perhaps the oldest surviving plan of this important town on the Chisholm Trail. Such early manuscript plans of Oklahoma towns are very rarely encountered on the market. Background In the late 19th century drovers moved vast herds of cattle along the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Kansas, from […]

Early manuscript rendering of the Madaba Map of the Holy Land

A rare and lovely manuscript based on the famed Madaba Map. One of the most spectacular cartographic relics of the ancient world, this enormous sixth-century mosaic floor map includes the earliest extant map of the Holy Land. Created in the late seventh century, the mammoth mosaic of the Middle East now known as the Madaba Map […]

Sketchbook of eccentric outsider and occult art kept by two New Hampshire teens

A remarkable sketchbook of outsider and occult art, kept by two young New Hampshire men. Some of the material funny, some weird, some funny and weird, and some just appalling. The sketchbook consists of a repurposed ledger containing 51 remaining leaves of lined paper. Most leaves are covered front and back with illustrations rendered entirely […]

A substantial, longitudinal archive of the Peace and Freedom Party in California

A substantial, longitudinal archive of material from the California affiliate of the Peace and Freedom Party (PFP), concentrating on its activities from 1974-1995 but with material dated as early as 1968 and as late as 2003. This archive consists of thousands of pages of California PFP flyers, typescript drafts and finished letters and policy documents, […]