Boston Rare Maps

Specializing in antique American maps & prints

Recent acquisitions

Richard Blome’s landmark map of the Middle and New England Colonies

Richard Blome’s scarce, significant and rather charming map of the northern English colonies, and something of a landmark in the English cartography of its emerging empire in North America. This is one of four maps illustrating Richard Blome’s A Description of the Island of Jamaica; with the other Isles and Territories in America, to which […]

Thomas Holme’s “Portraiture” of Philadelphia: A landmark in American urban planning

Thomas Holme’s landmark 1683 Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia, here in an American printing from 1812. When originally issued this was “the first [printed map] to depict an English colonial North American town” and hence a map “of considerable importance” (Burden). The future site of Philadelphia was surveyed and its plan laid out by […]

Unrecorded Colonial Virginia broadside relating to a suspected poisoning by two enslaved women

The only recorded example of this grim Virginia broadside enforcing a 1748 law respecting the trial and punishment of slaves accused of capital crimes. Accomplished in manuscript and signed by Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie in 1754, appointing a commission to investigate an accusation of poisoning against two enslaved women in Norfolk County. This order […]

The finest 18th-century chart of Boston Harbor, from “The Atlantic Neptune”

The finest 18th-century chart of Boston Harbor in a desirable later state, with the addition of the extensive American fortifications erected during the 1775 siege. For its combination of accuracy and visual appeal this chart has never been surpassed. The chart depicts the environs of Boston, Boston Harbor and much of the coastline between Nahant […]

1802 map of Exeter, New Hampshire by Phinehas Merrill

A rare, informative and charming map of Exeter, New Hampshire by important regional surveyor Phinehas Merrill. Merrill’s plan depicts the center of the ancient town of Exeter (incorporated 1638), situated at the head of the Exeter River in southeastern New Hampshire. The town has a distinguished history as one of the oldest towns in the […]

Phinehas Merrill plan of the center of Exeter New Hampshire

An early, rare and delightful plan of this important New Hampshire town, with an important connection to the “Carrigain” map of the state. Merrill’s plan depicts the center of the ancient town of Exeter situated at the head of the Exeter River in southeastern New Hampshire. The town has a distinguished history as one of […]

A rare variant “Coffin Handbill,” attacking Andrew Jackson

A vivid propaganda broadside attaching Andrew Jackson, published during the virulent presidential campaign of 1828. Background With the demise of the Federalist Party after the War of 1812, the Republicans almost inevitably began to fracture into “National” and “Radical” or “Old Republican” factions. The former advocated a more robust Federal government and attracted old Federalists […]

“The Beauty of the Heavens”: A delightful set of astronomical educational cards, handsomely presented

A delightful and handsome set of illustrated educational cards published in London in 1840 and addressing topics in astronomy, meteorology and optics, touching on themes as close to home as rainbows and as far afield as nebulae. The set consists of 104 educational cards, accompanied by an instructional booklet and housed in a book-form half-leather […]

Smith and Colton’s spectacular map of Long Island

The largest, most significant, and most attractive map of Long Island, New York to be issued in the 19th century. Embracing the entirety of Long Island, the map also takes in the Long Island Sound, New York City and adjacent New York counties, southern Connecticut and northeastern New Jersey. Topography is indicated by hachuring, residences […]

Confederate plan of First Bull Run

A rare Confederate plan of the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major encounter of the Civil War and an infamous disaster for the Union. Almost certainly published within weeks of the battle, it has a wonderful immediacy to the events depicted, and though rather crudely executed is replete with information. This is one […]

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 […]

With thematic maps exaggerating the Norwegian presence in the United States

A scarce Norwegian-language directory and gazetteer documenting the Norwegian presence in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, with an interesting pair of thematic maps. From 1836 through 1900 an average of just over 8000 Norwegians emigrated to the United States each year, and by the turn of the 20th century the […]

Detailed late-1944 map prepared for the bombardment of Iwo Jima

A rare “Secret” “Special Air and Gunnery Target Map” map of Iwo Jima prepared in anticipation of the February 19, 1945 U.S. invasion of the island. The map shows the landing zones on the southeastern and southwestern beaches of the island, and, most importantly, the Japanese defensive installations throughout the island in minute detail… at […]

Marie Tharp’s revolutionary physiographic map of the North Atlantic

A revolutionary 1957 thematic map of the North Atlantic Basin by geologists Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen, which contributed greatly to acceptance of the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. The map depicts the North Atlantic Ocean and surrounding basin, including most of eastern North America, with landmasses in yellow and submerged regions in […]

Humbead’s Revised Map of the World (1970)

A justly-iconic product of the late-60s, Humbead’s Revised Map distills the world to its essentials, or at least to the places and people most “top of mind” for the American counterculture. The map depicts the world as consolidated in a single, psychedelic Pangaea comprising Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, New York City and Cambridge, […]