Boston Rare Maps

Specializing in antique American maps & prints

Recent acquisitions

Benjamin Church’s Entertaining History of King Philip’s War, with the important Revere engraving of Metacomet

Benjamin Church’s extraordinary history of King Philip’s War, in the desirable 2nd edition with two engraved portraits by Revere, including the important engraving of Metacomet. Background King Philip’s War erupted in June 1675, after years of deteriorating relations between the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies and the Wampanoag tribes around Narragansett Bay. Fighting began at the […]

Chart of Charleston, South Carolina from The Atlantic Neptune

Spectacular Revolutionary-era chart of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, likely compiled from Colonial-era surveys and British reconnaissance just before the 1776 Battle of Sullivan’s Island. Published in the Atlantic Neptune, it was for its time by far the finest printed chart of the area. Blessed by a large, sheltered harbor and proximity to the […]

Copper printing plate for A View of the Town of Boston, engraved by James Trenchard

The original engraved copper printing plate for a view of Boston, prepared by James Trenchard to illustrate a description of the city in the December 1787 issue of The Columbian Magazine. A unique and important artefact of early American printing, complete with fingerprints in ink. Note: the image of the plate has been brightened and […]

Revolutionary image of the Andes by Alexander von Humboldt

The 1805 Tableau physique des Andes et Pays voisins by Alexander von Humboldt, his extraordinary attempt to render in a single image the ecology of the equatorial regions. One of the great scientific images and infographics of any era, here in a rare, separately issued example on luxurious paper. Background Though Humboldt (1769-1859) was raised […]

Rare 1833 map of Worcester Massachusetts

A fine and rare map depicting the human and natural geography of Worcester, Massachusetts. First settled by the English in 1674 the area was twice abandoned during King Phillip’s and Queen Anne’s Wars before being permanently resettled in 1713, incorporated in 1722 and named seat of the newly-created Worcester County in 1731. Taking advantage of […]

Olmsted’s Map of the Cotton Kingdom and Its Dependencies, “a landmark in American statistical cartography” (Schulten)

First American edition of Frederick Law Olmsted’s critical account of the Southern slave economy, published early in the Civil War and illustrated by a remarkable persuasive map of the Cotton Kingdom and Its Dependencies. Olmsted (1822-1903) was a man of extraordinary energy and intellectual scope, though illness had prevented him from ever gaining a college […]

A most unusual hieroglyphic geography of New England and New York

A remarkable “ hieroglyphic geography ” of New England and New York by two women associated with the Cooper Union Engraving School. The atlas is simple in organization, with separate sections for each of the six New England states plus New York. Each section consists of a half-title; a page with a tiny map and […]

A Western rarity: Thayer’s Map of the Black Hills and Big Horn Country (1877)

A superb and extremely rare map of the Black Hills, Wyoming Territory and adjacent areas soon after the conclusion of the Great Sioux War of 1876, depicting vastly-improved geographic knowledge of the region, the growing impact of the arrival of the Union Pacific and Northern Pacific Railroads, and the ongoing dispossession of the Plains Indians. […]

Spectacular bird’s eye view of Mount Washington

A spectacular promotional bird’s-eye view of Mount Washington and the White Mountains, issued by the Boston & Maine Railroad. By the early 20th century the Lakes and White Mountain regions of New Hampshire were major tourist destinations, with a well-developed network of hotels and resort towns and villages. With the proliferation of the automobile some […]

1904 bird’s-eye view of Butte Montana

A finely-detailed bird’s-eye view of Butte, Montana, “The Largest Mining Camp on Earth,” published by Henry Wellge in 1904, near the end of the Copper Wars. The view presents Butte as “A Model City with All Modern Institutions and Conveniences” as seen from an imaginary viewpoint to the southwest, looking across the city to the […]

Ten War Dept. Newsmaps from 1945, focusing on the pivot to the Pacific

Ten striking propaganda Newsmaps published by the U.S. War Department during the Second World War, covering roughly the period between the surrenders of Nazi Germany and Japan. Unusual in being accompanied by their original War Department mailing envelope. This run of Newsmaps is not continuous, but all were issued between May 7 and August 13, […]

The capstone of the British mapping of northeastern North America

A rare, monumental and momentous general chart of northeastern North America, representing the capstone of British efforts to map the region after the end of the French and Indian War, and described as “by far the most accurate cartographic rendering of its subject made for many decades.” (Alex Johnson) This example separately published, probably in […]

Sayer’s New Map of North America, highlighting the settlement of the Treaty of Paris

An attractive example of a landmark map first compiled by Emanuel Bowen and issued by Robert Sayer early in the French and Indian War, here updated to show the outcome of the American Revolution. Thus interesting in its own right, but also a fine example of the long, complicated publication histories of some of the […]

Osgood Carleton’s 1798 Accurate Map of the District of Maine

A great rarity, Osgood Carleton’s Accurate Map of the District of Maine is among the most desirable early Maine maps, the most detailed to appear in the eighteenth century, and one of the earliest maps sponsored by an American state. Carleton’s map depicts the then-District of Maine at a scale of six miles to the […]

A great Western rarity: The first edition of the Nicollet map of the Upper Mississippi River basin

The exceptionally rare six-sheet Nicollet & Fremont map of the upper Mississippi River, considered the foundation of modern mapping of the Upper Midwest and Great Plains and “One of the most important contributions ever made to American geography.” (Gouverneur Kemble Warren). Nicollet’s map depicts the Mississippi Basin from just below the mouth of the Missouri […]

The brothers Edgar tackle the Great Pyramid of Giza

A large, striking and exceedingly rare banner with a cutaway view of the Great Pyramid of Giza, reflecting the observations and conclusions of early 20th-century pyramidologists John and Morton Edgar. Broadly speaking, pyramidology is the study of early pyramids with an eye toward uncovering their hidden metaphysical, mystical, prophetic, spiritual and/or theological significance. The underlying […]

Mammoth 1913 school map of the United States by an ethnic-Armenian immigrant aspiring to citizenship

A mammoth hand-drawn and –painted school map of the United States produced in 1913 by an ethnic-Armenian immigrant from Turkey, aspiring to citizenship in his adopted country. At more than five by six-and-one-half feet the map is vast, but also simple in design, clearly designed to be hung on a wall and viewed at a considerable […]