Monumental wall map of the United States by Osgood Carleton
A monumental wall map of the United States by Osgood Carleton, much enlarged and greatly updated to reflect political developments and advances in geographic knowledge. A great rarity, known in only 10 or 11 examples, most in American institutions. The map Carleton’s first attempt at a wall map of the country appeared in 1791 as […]
William Faden map of the United States, updated to include the Louisiana Purchase
William Faden’s important and extremely long-lived map of the United States, with great interior detail reflecting the territorial development and geopolitical situation of the early Republic. Among other things, this is the first state to depict the newly-acquired Louisiana Territory. The map depicts North America as far west as the Missouri River watershed and north […]
![Abraham Bradley Jr., Map of the United States Exhibiting the Post-Roads, the situations, connexions & distances of the Post-Offices Stage Roads, Counties, & Principal Rivers By Abraham Bradley, Junr. Washington, D.C., June 2, 1804 [but revised ca. 1809].](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BRM4011-Abraham-Bradley-United-States-1804_1809_lowres-scaled-e1633364670892-150x150.jpg)
The second of Abraham Bradley’s landmark post route maps of the United States
Very rare example of Abraham Bradley’s epochal 1804 wall map of the United States, with important updates to 1809. Over the course of his lengthy career as First Assistant Postmaster General of the United States, Bradley issued a series of three major postal maps of the country, the first in 1796, the second in 1804, […]
![Shelton & Kensett / Engraved by A[mos] Doolittle New Haven & T[homas] Kensett Cheshire, AN IMPROVED MAP of the United States BY Shelton & Kensett. Cheshire, Conn., Nov. 8, 1813.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BRM3757-Shelton_Kensett-Improved-United-States-1813_lowres-scaled-e1614985766662-150x150.jpg)
Rare and decorative “Improved Map of the United States” issued during the War of 1812
A rare and decorative map of the United States, with appealing pictorial vignettes celebrating American naval victories in the War of 1812. The Improved Map of the United States depicts the eastern half of the nation, including much of the recently-obtained Louisiana Territory, as well as parts of British Canada and Spanish-owned Florida. The nation’s rapid territorial development is indicated by […]
Ambitious geological map of the United States by Jules Marcou
The 1853 first edition of an impressive but controversial geological map of the United States by the well-traveled Jules Marcou. Jules Marcou (1824-1898) trained first as a mathematician but in his early twenties transferred his interest and talents to geology. His natural talents came to the attention of Louis Agassiz and others, and in 1845—at […]
Landmark thematic atlas of American forests by Harvard botanist Charles Sprague Sargent
A landmark 1884 atlas of 16 thematic maps depicting the forest cover of the United States and Canada, compiled by renowned Harvard botanist Charles Sprague Sargent and overseen by pioneering mapmaker Henry Gannett. The atlas was issued, not by the Department of Agriculture, but by the Census Office of the Department of the Interior. A […]
Hornaday’s Extermination of the American Bison
A seminal work on the extermination of the American bison, compiled in the 1880s by Smithsonian taxidermist and pioneering conservationist William Temple Hornaday (1854-1937). With the important thematic map illustrating the shrinking range of the bison. It is well known that millions of bison once roamed North America, though less well known that their range […]
The Game of Uncle Sam’s Mail, by the McLoughlin Bros.
A wonderful McLoughlin Bros. game celebrating the United States’ huge and efficient postal system, with a large cartographic board and a spectacular chromolithographic box. The game is played on a very large, color-printed map of the United States, with red dots identifying cities and towns. The country is criss-crossed by heavy lines color-coded to represent […]
The National Highways Association pitches its “Four-Fold System of Highways”
A densely-exuberant persuasive map published in 1929 by the National Highways Association (NHA), “a membership corporation which exists to favor, foster and further the development of NATIONAL HIGHWAYS and GOOD ROADS EVERYWHERE in the length and breadth of these United States of America”. The NHA advocated above all for an activist role for the Federal […]
![Louis Delton Fancher / Plampin Litho. Co. Inc., A Food Map of the United States showing the part played by each of our States in supplying the Nation’s larder. [New York:] The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 1932.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/BRM3648-Food-Map-of-the-United-States_lowres-scaled-e1624020009396-150x150.jpg)
Spectacular pictorial food map of the United States
A mammoth, vibrantly-colored and spectacular pictorial food map of the United States, published by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.—better known as A&P—to promote its carnival exhibit at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. The map depicts the country in outline, with each state packed with illustrations depicting its most important food products. Vermont for […]
Satirical 1943 Ration Map of the United States by Edward McCandlish
A rare and marvelously entertaining 1943 pictorial ” Ration Map ” by Edward McCandlish, satirizing rationing in the United States during the Second World War. Early in the Second World War President Roosevelt established the Office of Price Administration (OPA). The new agency was charged with controlling prices of and regulating demand for materials essential […]
![Rivers / Photo by Malcolm Varon / Printed by Colorcraft Offset, Inc., America Needs MCGOVERN. HE CAN PUT IT TOGETHER. [New York?: McGovern presidential campaign? 1972.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BRM3885-America-Needs-McGovern-1972-scaled-e1629649760834-150x150.jpg)
Cartographic poster for the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern
A striking, quirky and quite rare poster for the catastrophic 1972 presidential campaign of South Dakota Senator George McGovern. The 1972 campaign took place against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, ongoing cultural upheavals and the still-fresh memories of Kent State and the assassinations of two Kennedys and Martin Luther King. I was only five […]