Boston Rare Maps

Specializing in antique American maps & prints

Recent acquisitions

Revolutionary-era map of Boston, used as the cover image for Mapping Boston

An impressive and detailed plan of Boston by Jean Lattré, likely dating to the middle of 1775, just as news of the American Revolution was filtering into France. One of the most attractive Boston plans of any era, it is featured on the cover of Mapping Boston (1999), to this day the standard work on […]

Fry & Jefferson’s Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia

The 1775 edition of Fry and Jefferson’s epochal Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia, praised as “the basic cartographical document for Virginia of the eighteenth century [and] the first map of Virginia by Virginians” (Coolie Verner) and “the definitive eighteenth century cartographic document for the colony of Virginia.” (Taliaferro) In scope, content and […]

Scarce and unusual plan of Revolutionary Boston

A scarce map of the Boston area issued during the earliest phase of the Revolution. This image was published in the Scots Magazine, less than two months after the June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill and while the British were still besieged in Boston. The map is striking for its unusual circular format, which does […]

1795 Mathew Carey trade catalog, including many maps and his first published atlases

A very scarce catalog of stock for 1795 issued by the Philadelphia book importer, bookseller and publisher Mathew Carey. Carey was a prolific and successful publisher, and the catalog is extensive indeed, running to 22 pages, not including the title and a blank leaf. Pages 3 to 22 include a wide variety of items numbered […]

Lovely hand fan celebrating Napoleon’s call for “Freedom of the Seas”

A lovely and very rare hand fan celebrating Napoleon’s call for “Freedom of the Seas”. Likely issued ca. 1800, following the catastrophic French defeat at the Battle of the Nile (August 1, 1798) and just after his rise to power as First Consul of France following the Coup of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9-10, 1799). The […]

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 […]

An appealing patriotic Civil War-era view of Washington, D.C.

A most appealing patriotic Civil War-era view of Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown, presented in an unusual format. Quite fragile, a remarkable survival, and only the fourth example known. This is one of the deluge of patriotic images that poured from American presses in the early years of the Civil War. It provides a boater’s-eye view […]

Willard Glazier discovers the true source of the Mississippi… or not

A very rare early 1880s persuasive map by first-rate scoundrel Willard Glazier, depicting his alleged expedition to the “true” source of the Mississippi River at “Lake Glazier”, known then and today as Elk Lake and but one of several small ponds feeding Lake Itasca. This remarkable map depicts the upper reaches of the Mississippi extending […]

Rambles Through Our Country … a spectacular pictorial map of the United States

An early and spectacular example of American pictorial mapping, Rambles through Our Country is a simple educational game requiring players to complete a “grand tour” of the United States. The game is played on a board featuring a spectacular chromolithographic map of the United States. The map bears 200 numbered stations beginning with Hartford—where the […]

Rare real estate maps of Portland Oregon

A very rare promotional plan for part of the Piedmont development in Portland, Oregon, backed by a large plan of the city. I quote extensively from the web site of the Piedmont Neighborhood Association: “The Piedmont subdivision was platted in 1889 by Edward Quackenbush and promoted in an early flyer as “The Emerald, Portland’s Evergreen […]

The shocking prevalence of lynching in the United States

A horrifying thematic map documenting the prevalence of lynching throughout the United States, from a 1931 report by the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching. Using as its base a simple outline map of the United States by county, the map uses black dots to identify each location of a documented lynching between 1900-1931. […]

“Secret” hand-drawn plan of a vital assault point on Omaha Beach

A rare and extremely dramatic manuscript tactical map of the Omaha Beach village of Les Moulins and its immediate surroundings, almost certainly drawn from confidential sources in the days or weeks before D-Day. Background Of the five D-Day landing beaches, that of the American 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions at Omaha was by far the […]

“Secret” 1944 map of Iwo Jima prepared for the American invasion

A rare secret “situation map” of Iwo Jima prepared in anticipation of the February 19, 1945 U.S. invasion. The map shows the landing zones on the island’s southeastern and southwestern beaches and, most importantly, Japanese defensive installations throughout the island in minute detail… at least as they were known to American forces before the battle. […]

Beatles Map of Liverpool!

An extremely rare poster-size Beatles Map highlighting The Fab Four’s many connections to Liverpool and promoting that city as a tourist destination. Rendered in the graphic style of the Beatles’ animated film Yellow Submarine, this pictorial map highlights areas of Liverpool where the Fab Four were born, lived, studied and performed. It also features Penny […]

The first official state map of South Carolina… “One of our best and most scientific maps” (Henry Tanner)

John Wilson’s monumental 1822 map of South Carolina, the first official map of the state and the first significant remapping of the state since before the Revolutionary War. Printed on four sheets, this very large wall map delineates county. judicial district and parish boundaries; along with roads, waterways and canals (including two sections of the […]

The 1852 Slatter & Callan map of Boston… the largest-scale map of the city to date

“I have examined your map of Boston proper, just published, and find it more correct than any other published map of Boston I have yet seen.” (Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough, first city engineer of Boston) A monumental and information-rich wall map of mid-19th century Boston and the largest-scale map of the city issued up to that time. […]

Rare map promoting development at Chestnut Hill in Brookline and Newton, Massachusetts

A rare 1856 promotional map of Chestnut Hill on the cusp of its development as a suburban enclave for wealthy Bostonians. Roughly speaking, the map depicts the area known today as the Old Chestnut Hill Historic District, bounded by Beacon Street to the north, Hammond Pond Reservation to the west, Boylston Street (labeled “Worcester Turnpike”on […]

Exceptional Alabama and Mississippi map prepared for the Union Army by the U.S. Coast Survey

Rare map of southern Alabama and Mississippi, drawn by the United States Coast Survey for use of the Union Army during the Civil War. At the outset of the Civil War, it became apparent to the Union leadership that there was a lack of reliable maps available for much of the South. They soon turned […]

Rare Henry Wellge bird’s-eye view of Chattanooga resurgent

A rare 1887 Henry Wellge bird’s-eye view of Chattanooga, Tennessee documenting its post-war resurgence as a major rail hub and manufacturing center. The view depicts Chattanooga in its splendid natural setting, apparently fully recovered from the ravages of the Civil War. In the far background is the massive bulk 2389-foot Lookout Mountain, a long ridge straddling […]

Fry & Jefferson’s Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia

The 1775 edition of Fry and Jefferson’s epochal Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia, praised as “the basic cartographical document for Virginia of the eighteenth century [and] the first map of Virginia by Virginians” (Coolie Verner) and “the definitive eighteenth century cartographic document for the colony of Virginia.” (Taliaferro) In scope, content and […]

The shocking prevalence of lynching in the United States

A horrifying thematic map documenting the prevalence of lynching throughout the United States, from a 1931 report by the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching. Using as its base a simple outline map of the United States by county, the map uses black dots to identify each location of a documented lynching between 1900-1931. […]