Boston Rare Maps

Specializing in antique American maps & prints

Recent acquisitions

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 […]

Monumental 1831 world map by Henry Tanner

A remarkable wall map of the world by the remarkable Henry Tanner and arguably the culminating cartographic achievement of his career. “The object of Mr. Tanner was not to make a reprint of any former map, but to incorporate into one splendid effort, the correct delineations of existing publications with the late discoveries of Ross, […]

The Clark and Tackabury map of Connecticut

A mammoth map of Connecticut published by Clark and Tackabury in 1860, for its time by far the finest map of the state. An unusually appealing example in case-map format. The decade of the 1850s marked a new high-water mark of American map publishing, with thousands of large-scale national, state, county, city and town maps […]

1860 manuscript survey of Fort Mifflin and Mud Island, on the Delaware River below Philadelphia

A mammoth 1860 plan of Mud Island and historic Fort Mifflin, today the only active American military base dating to before the Revolutionary War. Mud Island sits in a controlling position at the outlet of the Schuykill into the Delaware River, just below Philadelphia. The first fort was built there in 1771-1777, but was all […]

Terrific Civil War-era strip map of the Mississippi River by J. T. Lloyd

J. T. Lloyd’s scarce and richly informative strip map of the lower Mississippi River from St. Louis to its outlet in the Gulf of Mexico. The desirable second edition containing important updates concerning the Civil War. A visually very pleasing example with period hand color, a warm patina, and only minor restoration. In both its […]

Unrecorded map of Baltimore by William Twamley

An impressive and unrecorded 1881 case map of Baltimore, produced by one of the city’s leading civil engineers in an era of rapid development and population growth. Described by his obituary as a “civil engineer of the first rank”, William P. Twamley was for 40 years “closely identified with both the industrial and physical growth […]

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 […]

Rare 18th-century paper instrument with an unusual flat earth projection

A rare and unusual instrument, featuring a volvelle with a distinctive flat earth projection of the world. One of only three examples located. The instrument consists of a large engraved diagram mounted on a heavy pasteboard backing, as issued. The central feature of the diagram is a map of the world projected on a single […]

The Ebeling – Sotzmann map of Vermont

The finest 18th–century map of Vermont, compiled by D.F. Sotzmann and Christoph Ebeling, two German geographers who never visited America. This lovely map depicts considerable detail of the state’s natural geography, including lakes, rivers, streams, and even waterfalls, as well as the Green Mountains and lesser areas of elevation. Political boundaries are shown, with state, […]

The first printed plan of Milwaukee Wisconsin

An important American map, being the first printed plan of Milwaukee Wisconsin executed by early settlers Byron Kilbourn and Increase Lapham in 1835-36. The plan is a wonderful rarity whose story is intertwined with the founding and early controversies of the city. The plan depicts the future city extending for perhaps 1 ½ miles along […]

Rare Newport Rhode Island property atlas by G.M. Hopkins

A very scarce and extraordinarily-detailed atlas of Newport, Rhode Island in the Gilded Age, when old and new money competed to build extravagant “cottages” along Atlantic-facing Bellevue and Ocean Avenues. Though it had been a thriving commercial port during the Colonial era, Newport’s economy suffered badly during the Revolution, and thereafter it was eclipsed by […]

Franklin Leavitt map of the White Mountains

A wonderful and scarce pictorial map by the renowned White Mountains cartographer, adventurer and poet Franklin Leavitt. By the mid-19th century the transmission of the Romantic ethos across the Atlantic, the rise of a middle class with disposable income, and the development of rail links with coastal cities transformed the White Mountains into a major […]

Iconic Fritz Kahn infographic of the Human Factory

A stunning and very rare English-language edition of the iconic Fritz Kahn infographic likening the human body to a miniature chemical plant. Fritz Kahn Born in Halle, Germany in 1888 to an orthodox Jewish family, physician, science writer and graphic designer Fritz Kahn spent much of his life on the move. He studied medicine in […]