Boston Rare MapsSpecializing in antique American maps & prints
A scarce, separately issued map showing the route of the proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington was the chief advocate of using waterways to connect the Eastern Seaboard to the Great Lakes and Ohio River. To this end he founded the Potowmack Company in 1785, in order to improve the […]
![[ William Bennett ]Painted by G. Cooke / Engd. by W[illiam] J[ames] Bennett, CITY OF WASHINGTON From beyond the Navy Yard. New York: Lewis P. Clover, 180 Fulton St. N.Y., [ca. 1834.]](https://bostonraremaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BRM3266-Bennett-Washington_lowres-e1568904708586-150x150.jpg)
One of the great views of Washington, D.C., emphasizing the city’s magnificent natural setting at the junction of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. Executed in aquatint by William Bennett, one of America’s great landscape engravers. The view depicts the capital as seen looking westward from the south bank of the Anacostia River. The city’s major landmarks […]
A dramatic image of the British capture and burning of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812. Only the second known impression, and the only one in private hands. Background Though the British had declared a blockade of the mid-Atlantic coast early in the War of 1812, most of the first two years’ fighting took place […]
The first printed map of Washington, D.C. being the small-scale edition of the “Ellicott Plan” engraved by Thackara & Valance for the Columbian Magazine. 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 […]
A scarce and attractive restrike of George Gilpin’s important and phenomenally rare 1798 plan of Alexandria Virginia. Gilpin’s plan depicts Alexandria Virginia at a period of rapid growth, when, as the lone port of entry on the Potomac, it was one of the country’s busiest ports. The simple gridded street plan is shown with street names […]
A rare and patriotic 1862 map showing the progress—or lack thereof–of the Union war effort in the border region around Washington D.C. and the Potomac River. The map provides a beautiful and detailed depiction of the contested Potomac River border region during the first year of Civil War. It emphasizes the topographical and man-made features […]
A fascinating volume of correspondence between George Washington and a prominent English agronomist, illustrated by Washington’s own map of his Mount Vernon estate. Following his retirement from active service in 1783, Washington devoted much of his time to the maintenance and improvement of his vast estate of Mount Vernon. Soon thereafter he began an extensive […]
A mammoth George Eldridge chart depicting in detail the waters of Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers, most notably the James, York, Rappahannock, the Potomac (extending upstream to Washington, D.C.) and the Patuxent (to Baltimore). An inset at upper right, probably added for the 1888 edition, extends the coverage to Havre de Grace, Maryland. Thousands […]