Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
A rare map of an important Massachusetts city. A richly- detailed map of Somerville, Mass., depicting its boundaries, street plan, and the locations of both major structures and private dwellings. Parts of the surrounding towns of Cambridge, Charlestown, Malden and Medford are also shown, albeit in more schematic form. Several businesses are named on the […]
![J[ames] C[harles] Sidney / Printed by F. Kuhl, C.E., PLAN of the City of NEW LONDON NEW LONDON COUNTY CONNECTICUT. From original Surveys by J.C. Sidney, C.E. Philadelphia: Collins & Clark, 1850.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BRM3128-Sidney-New-London-1850_lowres-e1533656193434-150x150.jpg)
An attractive, informative and very rare 1850 plan of New London, Connecticut, situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Thames River. First settled in 1646, its excellent deep water harbor made it a natural hub of commerce and, during wartime, a base for naval operations, and by the early 19th century it […]
![N[athaniel] Henry Crafts (after James Slade) / Drawn by H. M. Wightman / Engraved by C. A. Swett, PLAN OF BOSTON, Corrected under the direction of … COMMITTEE ON PRINTING. of 1864 BY N. HENRY CRAFTS, CITY ENGINEER. 1864. Boston, 1864.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BRM3263-Boston-1864_lowres-scaled-e1690728655419-150x150.jpg)
The official map of the City of Boston for 1864, revised under the supervision of City Engineer N. Henry Crafts and providing a valuable snapshot of the city at a time of breakneck growth. In 1860 the city of Boston was expanding in just about every sense of the word: In just the past decade […]
![John Mullett / James Otto Lewis, engraver, PLAN of DETROIT by JOHN MULLETT Engraved & Published by J.O. LEWIS, 1830. [Detroit:], 1830.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BRM3932-Mullett-Detroit-1830_lowres-scaled-e1628190501383-150x150.jpg)
An extraordinarily rare separately-published plan of Detroit, and the earliest-obtainable plan to exhibit the distinctive city layout developed by Augustus Woodward after the devastating fire of 1805. One of only two known examples, the other badly tattered. Mullett’s plan depicts the original part of city of Detroit as it was being rebuilt, redesigned and enlarged […]
A rare and detailed plan of Boston by Osgood Carleton, taken from the 1796 second edition of John West’s Boston Directory. This plan’s relatively large scale enables it to depict Boston in greater detail than any map of the town since before the American Revolution. The street layout is shown and all streets named, as […]
“A seminal map of New York City” (Cohen & Taliaferro), produced by Great Britain’s most important military engineers working under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. John Montresor (1736-99) was a British military engineer with a long, varied and almost unbelievably accomplished career in the American Colonies, beginning with service during the French and Indian War […]
A rare, informative and appealing 1853 wall map of Burlington Vermont by Presdee & Edwards. As with all Presdee & Edwards maps, the very large scale of 16 rods (264 feet) to the inch is sufficient to provide immense detail, including not only the street plan and rail lines, but property lines, land owners, and the placement […]
Only the second confirmed impression of this most important and impressive map of Pittsburgh. Situated at the head of the Ohio River and surrounded by some of America’s richest coal fields and earliest oilfields, Pittsburgh was almost ideally situated to take advantage of the Industrial Revolution and western expansion. At the turn of the 19th […]
![[Recto:] Cha[rle]s W[ellford] Leavitt, Jr. Landscape Engineer 220 Broadway N.Y.C. / W. Peggs[?] / C. S. Hammond & Co., N.Y., ESTATES of LONG BEACH WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS PRES. LONG ISLAND N.Y. OFFICE 225 5TH AVE –NEW YORK CITY. GENERAL LOT PLAN. [Verso:] Spofford / Engraved and Printed by the Brewer Press, LONG BEACH 24 MILES FROM 34TH ST. NEW YORK. New York: Estates of Long Beach Co., March 1907.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BRM3582-Estates-of-Long-Beach_2-sided-1907_recto_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A most attractive and very rare 1907 promotional plan revealing real estate magnate William H. Reynolds’ typically grandiose vision for the future city of Long Beach, New York. Born poor in 1868, at 18 Reynolds went into business as a builder and real estate broker, “having accumulated capital of $200 by obtaining a 2 per […]
An all-but unrecorded 1818 plan of the Hudson Valley city of Troy New York, on the eve of the great boom brought on by the construction of the Erie Canal. First laid out in 1787 and chartered as a city in 1816, Troy benefited from its location at the confluence of the Mohawk and […]