Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
![C.P. Patterson, Superintendent, et al, SALEM HARBOR MASSACHUSETTS.[Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1875.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/BRM4242-USCS-Salem-1875_lowrs-scaled-e1678219347582-150x148.jpg)
A hugely informative 1875 navigation chart of Salem Harbor issued by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, in a rarely-found issue on heavy chart paper. The U.S. Coast Survey (later the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey) published its first chart of Salem Harbor and surroundings in 1855. Offered here is an updated edition on the […]
First edition of a mammoth four-sheet jet navigation chart of the United States, published in 1953-54 by a partnership of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and U.S. Air Force. Some six feet high and nine feet wide if assembled. The Air Force had been working on jet aircraft since early in the Second […]
![[Adolph and Henryt Lindenkohl], SKETCH OF PORTIONS OF SEA COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA. [Washington, D.C.]: United States Coast Survey, 1863.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BRM3917-USCS-South-Carolina-and-Georgia_low-resolution-scaled-e1689705643608-150x150.jpg)
Very rare map of the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia issued by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1863, no doubt for use in the Union blockade of the Confederate coast. Background As war with the Confederacy loomed in early 1861, Union leadership under General Winfield Scott drew up what came to be known as the […]
Extremely rare proof or first state of this very rare Coast Survey chart of the lower James River, perhaps hurried into print in preparation for McLellan’s disastrous Peninsula Campaign of 1862. This chart depicts James River from its mouth Hampton Roads and Newport News 71 miles upstream to City Point (now Hopewell). Detailed soundings are […]
![G[riffith] M[organ] Hopkins (mapmaker) / Friend & Aub (lithographer) / Thomas & S. Wagner’s Lith. (printer), CLARK & TACKABURYS’ NEW Topographical Map of the State of CONNECTICUT. Philadelphia: Richard Clark and Rob[er]t M. and Geo[rge] N. Tackabury, 1859/1860.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRM3770-Hopkins-Connecticut-1860_lowres-scaled-e1617717227619-150x150.jpg)
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 […]
A lovely, hugely informative, and surprisingly rare chart of Nantucket Harbor, in a rarely-found issue on heavy chart paper. The chart is a trove of data, including detailed soundings; navigational aids and hazards; and the line of the main channel into the harbor. Also provided is detailed topographical and cartographical information on the adjacent coast, including a minutely-detailed […]
The most impressive map of antebellum Washington, D.C. Albert Boschke (1823-1910) was a German-born civil engineer who worked for the U.S. Coast Survey from around 1850 through the end of the Civil War. He served as both a draughtsman and field surveyor, held positions of increasing responsibility, and made valuable contributions to the charting of the harbors […]
Rare large format Civil War map of Georgia and part of South Carolina, published by the United States Coast Survey. An exceptionally detailed map, prepared for the Union Army during the last months of the Civil War. It was the finest available map of the region, and copies would have been rushed to officers both at […]
A trove of information, this chart includes immensely detailed soundings; navigational hazards; navigational aids such as lighthouses and light ships; and sailing directions. Also provided is detailed topographical and cartographical information on the adjacent coastal regions, at times extending well inland. An earlier version of this chart printed on thin paper were bound in the Report […]
![Drawn by E[dwin] Hergesheimer / Engr. By Th. Leonhardt / C. B. Graham lithr., MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SLAVE POPULATION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES OF THE UNITED STATES Compiled from the CENSUS OF 1860. Washington, DC: Henry S. Graham, September, 1861.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BRM4341-Hergesheimer-Distribution-of-Slavery-Southern-States-1861_lowres-scaled-e1686951473290-150x150.jpg)
A rare and vitally-important Civil War map, issued in 1861 by the U.S. Coast Survey to demonstrate the wildly uneven distribution of slaveholding in the border and southern states. Much consulted by President Lincoln, for whom it was powerful evidence that the Confederacy could be fractured from within. Not seen on the antiquarian market in […]