Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in rare, important and unusual American maps and prints
This extraordinary document is a working draft of a parliamentary speech articulating Great Britain’s global strategy for prosecuting the Seven Years’ War. The writer argues for massive financial support for Frederick II of Prussia, that he might occupy French attention, manpower and treasure on the Continent. This would enable the British to exploit their advantages in […]
A landmark map compiled by French diplomat and spy Eugène Duflot de Mofras during the contest for control of the American West, complete with exciting period annotations by French prospectors. In the early 1840s the American West Coast was very much up for grabs: Mexico had already lost Texas, and its administration of California was shambolic; […]
A small archive of material related to the 1842 donation to the Library of Congress of two interesting French and Indian War-era maps of North America. In 1842 Doctor Andrew Nichols (1785-1853), a distinguished citizen of Danvers, Massachusetts, enquired of his Congressman, Leverett Saltonstall (1783-1845), whether the Library of Congress would welcome a gift from […]
A recently-discovered watercolor of New York City, contemporary with the Stamp Act Riots and one of only a handful of manuscript views of the city from before the Revolution. Artist Pieter Idsertsz depicts New York as seen from the southwest, from a vantage point across the East River in Brooklyn, possibly at Red Hook. The city […]
The original manuscript record of the casualties on the USS Chesapeake during her June 1, 1813 defeat by the HMS Shannon. Compiled on the day of the battle and updating over the next several days. Following a challenge issued by British Captain Philip Broke, the USS Chesapeake, under Captain James Lawrence, met the HMS Shannon in a single-battle off […]
![Nathaniel Barber, Jr., Return of Ordnance Stores. [Boston area,] January 1, 1777.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/BRM3584-Ordnance-Return_scroll_lowres-150x150.jpg)
A massive return for all ordnance stores belonging to the Continental Army on hand at Boston at the opening of 1777. Though similar returns for smaller units appear with some frequency on the antiquarian market, it is rare indeed to encounter one for such a major component of the Continental Army, and with such excellent […]
![William C. Folger 1855 manuscript copy of Daniel Allen and Daniel P. Macy, A plat of North Pasture laid out by the subscribers who were employed by the Agents of the Proprietors by virtue of a vote taken 3d 4mo 1821 agreeably to the report[.] Nantucket 27th 10mo 1821. Daniel Allen [/] Daniel P. Macy. Nantucket, Oct. 27, 1821.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BRM2709_67-Folger-copy-North-Pasture-1855_lowres-scaled-e1578256908978-150x150.jpg)
Two early copies of an 1821 survey recording the division of common lands at the North Pasture a couple of miles east of the town of Nantucket, a process as controversial as it was important. While Nantucket institutions hold substantial cartographic archives related to land ownership on the island, such material is almost never encountered […]
![R. Sherman pix, COURSE OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE. [:] Plan of the entire Works of the Attack of a place from the opening of the Trenches up to its Surrender. United States Military Academy, West Point, Jan. 7, 1832.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BRM4041-Sherman-Course-of-Attack-and-Defence-1832_lowres-scaled-e1636734385411-150x150.jpg)
A large, finely-rendered manuscript plan of the siege of a European-style fortress, drawn in 1832 at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The plan shows the methodical investment and capture of the fortress over the course of a month, using color coding to indicate day-by-day progress of the siege works. The basic siege […]
![N[icholas] L[loyd] Taliaferro and F[rank] S[amuel] Hudson, Geologic Map of the Marathon Basin. Field notes in Sept. and Oct. 1919.](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BRM3464-Taliaferro_Hudson-Marathon-Basin-1919_lowres-scaled-e1581520669352-150x150.jpg)
A finely-rendered geological map of the Marathon Basin in Brewster County, Texas, from the early years of West Texas oil exploration. Oil exploration in West Texas was at a feverish pitch during the years 1919-21, particularly in the Permian Basin and the adjoining Marathon Basin. Exploratory drilling in both areas began in 1920, but with […]
![A MAP OF THE Harbour of NEW YORK by Survey. [New York, ca. 1735-1770s.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/BRM3680-Harbour-of-New-York-manuscript_lowres-scaled-e1604444828147-150x150.jpg)
An early manuscript map of what is now New York City, based closely on William Bradford’s New Map of the Harbour of New York, one of the great rarities of 18th-century American cartography. Like the Bradford map, our manuscript depicts New York and northeastern New Jersey from roughly present-day Marlboro Township in the southwest, to Little Falls in […]