Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in antique American maps & prints
A rare, early view of Boston, unusual for being one of very few 18th-century views of the town printed in America. This charming view of Boston is taken from the vantage point of Castle William across the Harbor to the southeast. It was issued in the December 1787 number of The Columbian Magazine, and is […]
A scarce and appealing 18th-century view of Harvard and “the earliest engraving of the College which one may reasonably hope to obtain.” (Bail) The view is taken from a point in front of the present-day Johnston Gate on Massachusetts Avenue across from Cambridge Common. It shows the three College buildings as they appeared in 1726, from […]
Fine, separately-issued example of Thackara & Valance’s small-scale edition of Ellicott’s plan of Washington, D.C., the first published plan of the nation’s capital. Due to the vicissitudes of war and sectional politics, the site of the American capital remained unsettled for years after independence, and before 1790 Congress met variously at Philadelphia, Lancaster and York, […]
![Original copper printing plate for James Trenchard, View of the Town of Boston the Capital of New England. [Philadelphia, January 1788.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/BRM3795-Trenchard-Boston-plate_lowres-scaled-e1619299022540-150x150.jpg)
The original engraved copper printing plate for a view of Boston, prepared by James Trenchard to illustrate a description of the city in the December 1787 issue of The Columbian Magazine. A unique and important artefact of early American printing, complete with fingerprints in ink. Note: the image of the plate has been brightened and […]
![[ James Trenchard ], The Armorial bearings of the States of Massachusetts and N. York. [Philadelphia, 1787.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/BRM3795A-Trenchard-state-seals-plate_lowres-scaled-e1622549513708-150x150.jpg)
The original engraved copper plate for printing the Armorial bearings of the States of Massachusetts and New York, prepared by James Trenchard to illustrate the October 1787 issue of The Columbian Magazine. A unique and important artefact of early American printing history. The plate combines the arms of Massachusetts and New York. The two make […]