Welcome to my virtual map gallery!
The maps you see below are the core of my small collection and represent my thematic interests: The Age of Discovery, Maps and Views of Spain, Early American Maps (particularly Revolutionary War and New York City). Like many collectors, I enjoy maps that reinforce connections to my family history and ethnic heritage (Syrian [Nasr], Irish [Hanon], French [Rabut], Scottish [Taylor].
Credit for map descriptions are compiled from various sources (with minor embellishments from me), with particular reliance on library descriptions, map catalogers, and my map dealer websites.
FROM THE FIRST MODERN ATLAS: TYPUS ORBIS TERRARUM – Abraham Ortelius
Published in "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" (Antwerp, 1570)
Ortelius' book of maps, first published in 1570, is considered the first modern world atlas. It was the first time that a set of maps, contemporary to the date of publication, was designed, drawn, and engraved with the intention of publishing them in a bound volume. Ortelius did not refer to his publication as an "atlas," as we know it today. Rather he entitled it "Theater of the World," implying not only that the entire known world could be viewed in this one book, but that the Earth was a stage on which human actions unfolded.
Although most of the maps in this book pertain to European countries and provinces, it can be considered a world atlas because it also includes a map of the world (displayed here), as well as one map for each of the four continents.
The featured map is from the second state and was published c.1578 and is similar to the first state map, but with a few corrections. It is one of the most recognized maps from the Age of Discovery. This version includes the mythical Great Northern Passage, an irregular "bulge" on the west side of South America and the mythical Great Southern Continent, "Terra Australis Ingognita," roughly in the place of Antartica before its discovery. Most of North America is still based on conjecture and mythology, though he does credit Columbus for its discovery.
While the first edition of Ortelius' ''Theatrum" was published in Latin in 1570, this book was subsequently issued in 33 editions over the next 41 years. It was also translated into six other languages - German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, and English. The success of this first atlas publication marked the beginning of the Golden Age of Flemish and Dutch Cartography with cartographers from the Low Countries dominating the map trade until the end of the 17th century.
First English World Map to Show California as an Island
John Speed, 1651 (Rare Third State - Roger Rea Publisher)
From the first world atlas produced in England, this sought-after map is, in its first edition of 1627, the earliest world map in English generally available to show the famous misconception of California as an island. This example is the rare third state with the imprint of Roger Rea the Elder which proves its provenance to before the Great Fire of London in 1666. The plate is remarkable for the mass of decoration and information including allegorical figures representing the four elements - Water, Earth, Fire and "Aire" - as well as diagrams of the "Heavens and Elements," eclipses, celestial hemispheres and portraits of the circumnavigators Drake, Cavendish, Magellan and Van Noort. John Speed's map is a compendium of information; it shows a prominent "Southerne Unknowne Land" described as home to "The Atlantic and many other curiosities." This is one of the best known and most important of English world maps.
City View of Sevilla – from Civitates Orbis Terrarum, 1572
Braun and Hogenberg
The first volume of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and the final volume appeared in 1617.
This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird's-eye views and map views of cities from all over the world. Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the principal editor of the work, and was greatly assisted in his project by the close, and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1570 was, as a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps of uniform style, the first true atlas.
The Civitates, indeed, was intended as a companion for the Theatrum, as indicated by the similarity in the titles and by contemporary references regarding the complementary nature of two works. Nevertheless, the Civitates was designed to be more popular in approach, no doubt because the novelty of a collection of city plans and views represented a more hazardous commercial undertaking than a world atlas, for which there had been a number of successful precedents. Franz Hogenberg (1535-1590) was the son of a Munich engraver who settled in Malines. He engraved most of the plates for Ortelius's Theatrum and the majority of those in the Civitates, and may have been responsible for originating the project.
This map is a view of Sevilla, one of the most important cities in Europe at the time of publication. It shows "Sevillanas" in local dress and features a detailed legend describing all of the entry points to the city. Of note are the Puerta de la Carne, or "meat door," that is situated directly in front of the "matadero," the slaughterhouse (one of my favorite urban development features). Also prominently featured are "La Giralda" cathedral with a Moorish minaret and the "Cuarta de Colon," or Columbus' quarters on the outer walls of the city. You can also see the castle where the Spanish Inquisition carried out their tortures in the name of Christ on the opposing shore of the Rio Guadalquivir. The "Torre de Oro" was used to block the river from invading forces with chains, as all of the gold from the New World made its way up the 90 mile river from its entry point in the Mediterranean Sea.
The plans, each accompanied by Braun's printed account of the town's history, situation and commerce, form an armchair traveler's compendium, which the scholar Robert Burton in The Anatomy of Melancholy of 1621 asserted would not only provide instructions but would uplift the spirit as well.
It was truly the pre-commercial transit version of a coffee-table book.
My Connection: My first introduction to Spain was through an exchange program in high school, where I lived with a family in Cordoba, a neighboring city in Andalucia and we made several visits to Sevilla. When I moved to Spain as a consultant in the early 1990's, I spent about four months working on a strategic plan for the Autoridad Portuario de Sevillla (Port Authority). I loved working on this project because I was able to think about how to take a port that had been the entry-point for all of the wealth from the New World during Spain's dominance and define a strategic path forward some 500 years later. I would walk through the port and imagine the old ships coming in with their gold and silver. Today, the port is but a shadow of its former self and is largely used to transport olive oil and agricultural products. Unfortunately for the Port of Sevilla, the major highways from Huelva and Cadiz have made the inland transport of goods faster and less expensive by truck.
“Mapa de una porción del reyno de España que comprende los parages por donde anduvo Don Quijote y los sitios de sus aventuras.“ Tomás Lopéz, Royal Cartographer to Charles III, 1780 (Ibarra edition).
This is a map produced in 1780 upon the celebration of the publication of an anniversary edition of Don Quijote published by the Real Academia. It is the first attempt to chronicle the various adventures of Don Quijote that was included in the book. Tomas Lopez, Royal Cartographer to Charles III, worked with engineers to triangulate positions based on geological references in the fictional book. I was looking for this map as a separate item for some time, but was fortunate to find a copy of El Quijote published in 1819 that contained a copy of the map. A classic find!
Iconic map of New Netherlands with the first obtainable view of New York.
--Nicholas Visscher, NOVI BELGII NOVAEQUE ANGLIAE NEC NON PARTIS VIRGINIAE TABULA. [Amsterdam, ca. 1652.]
This is the scarce second state of Visscher's New Netherlands, with Fort Kasimir included but Philadelphia still lacking. Most surviving copies are in the later third state (after 1683,) with Philadelphia added.
Shortly after the first appearance of Jansson’s landmark map of New England in 1650, Nicholas Visscher issued a corrected copy, with one particular significant addition. The Visscher map “is of extreme importance for introducing a view of New Amsterdam in the lower right” – Burden. This view is one of the earliest obtainable images of the city of New York, preceded only by the extremely rare view by Joost Hartgers, which was published in 1651, and a 1650 etched view by Johannis Blaeu which, according to Joep de Koning, is the model for the view on the Visscher map.
This early panorama of the city shows the southern section of Manhattan Island as a small wooden settlement dominated by a windmill, a Church, a hanging scaffold, pillory and fort, along with the more substantial buildings of the Director General and West India Company. With the addition of the view, Visscher created a composite map of such striking design that it became a model for numerous European cartographers for over a century. The first state of the Visscher map was separately published prior to the construction of Fort Kasimir and is known in only three examples, making this second state the earliest obtainable example of the map. De Koning redates this second edition at c.1652, where Burden had dated the map at c.1656.
References
Baynton-Williams, “Printed Maps of New England to 1780, Part II: 1670-1700,” #1655.01d (at MapForum.com). Burden, The Mapping of North America, vol. II #315, state 4. Campbell, “The Jansson-Visscher Maps of New England,” #6 (in Tooley, The Mapping of America). Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, vol. 1 pp. 147-148 and plate 7-B (describing and illustrating the first state). Background from De Koning, “From Van der Donck to Visscher,” Mercator’s World vol. 5 no. 4 (July/August 2000), pp. 28-33.
Superb Example of an Early New York City Plan
Showing the Beginnings of Development Within the Grid
New York City. PHELPS, H. [New York, 1831] Map of the City of New York, with the latest improvements….
This is a first edition of this very scarce, beautifully preserved plan published at the beginning of the most dynamic period of the city’s growth. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which gave New York City access to the products of the West, was arguably the single most important factor in the city’s growth. This plan, which indicates with shading the developed parts of the city at the time, provides early evidence of the result of the Canal’s opening. For example, a similar plan by Hooker published two years earlier in 1829 shows considerably less development in the area below 14th Street in the area of today’s Greenwich Village and Lower East Side. Another indication of growth is the lists along the left side of this map enumerating expanding services, cultural institutions and markets.
Humphrey Phelps had a relatively long and active career in map publishing, both independently and with various partners. This work appears to have been his first published map; there is nothing earlier listed for him in either Rumsey or the Dictionary of Mapmakers (see below). This 1831 edition also appears to be the first edition of this plan, making this the first edition of Phelps’ first published map; no earlier edition is listed by Haskell
* Haskell, D. C. Manhattan Maps, no. 736; not in Rumsey Cartographic Collection (online site); cf. Tooley’s Revised Dictionary of Mapmakers, K-P, pp. 419-420.
Battle of Bennington, 1777. Family connection here ...
Position of the Detachment under Colonel Baum, at Waloomsack, near Bennington Shewing the Attacks of the Enemy on the 16th August 1777. Drawn by Lieut. Durnford, Engineer. Mapmaker: Faden, 1780
This is the rare separately-issued version of William Faden’s plan of the Battle of Bennington. My ancestor, Moses Nichols, was a colonel in the New Hampshire militia and was a leading force in this battle. The position of his troops is shown on the map (red dot). Nichols' troops fired the first shot in this battle that resulted in the decisive defeat of the British and pre-saged the defeat at Saratoga just weeks later. Saratoga is often called "the turning point" of the Revolutionary War and is listed as one of the top battle campaigns of all time.
Faden’s series of battle plans is the most important for the Revolution. The plans are generally based on notes and sketches made on the field of battle by British engineers. Included in the series are plans for battles for which no other printed cartographic record exists, as with this example.
The Battle of Bennington actually took place about ten miles west of that town, near Walloomsac at a crossing of the Hoosack River, Rensselaer County, New York. An American force, including members of Seth Warner's famous Green Mountain Boys, decisively defeated a detachment of General John Burgoyne’s army led by Colonel Friedrick Baum. Nebenzahl says that Bennington was “of great significance … a major British failure.”
The British force had been sent to raid Bennington for horse, pack animals and other supplies. They were unaware of the sizable American force stationed there. The battle was a decisive victory for the Americans, as it reduced Burgoyne’s army by nearly one thousand men, led his Indian allies to largely abandon him, and deprived him of needed supplies. The map shows the positions of the British and American forces, the road from Saratoga and the road to Bennington, and shows the area’s topography in excellent detail.
Great map of Spain with decorative cartouche. Herman Moll, c.1755
Splendid map of the whole Iberian peninsula and the Balearic islands, with an amusing note berating the publishers of other "inaccurate" maps "put out by Ignorant Pretenders." The map includes a huge amount of information including roads, bridges and the "places where battles &c. have been fought by the English mentioned in history." The huge title cartouche incorporates the coats of arms of the kingdoms and principalities and on the opposite side of the map is a decorative dedication to John Duke of Argilies. Two sheets joined, as issued.
Ref: Shirley (BL Atlases) T.MOLL-4b [24].
Ancestral Stomping Grounds - Syria, 1851 -- Tallis
DESCRIPTION
This is an appealing example of John Tallis and John Rapkin's 1851 map of Syria. It covers from the Gulf of Iskenderun to the Dead Sea and includes the modern day Syria, Lebanon, Israel and parts of Jordan and Turkey. The map includes beautiful illustrations by H. Warren of baggage camels, Jerusalem and Arabs. This time in history marks the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which Syria was part of, but largely ignored by world affairs. The whole has the highly decorative presentation and elaborate border distinctive of Tallis maps. This map was issued as part of the 1851 edition of John Tallis and Company's The Illustrated Atlas, And Modern History of the World.
CARTOGRAPHER
John Tallis and Company published views, maps and Atlases in London from roughly 1838 to 1851. The principal works, expanding upon the earlier works of Cary and Arrowsmith, include an 1838 collection of London Street Views and the 1849 Illustrated Atlas of the World. His principle engraver was John Rapkin, whose name and decorative vignettes appear on most Tallis & Co. maps. Due to the decorative style of Rapkin's work, many regard Tallis maps as the last bastion of English decorative cartography in the 19th century. Though most Tallis maps were originally issued uncolored, it was not uncommon for 19th century libraries to commission colorists to "complete" the atlas. The London Printing and publishing Company of London and New York bought the rights for many Tallis maps in 1850 and continued Publishing his Illustrated Atlas of the World until the mid 1850s. Specific Tallis maps later appeared in innumerable mid to late 19th century publications as illustrations and appendices
Fine decorative and detailed map of Syria published by Johannes Jansson in Amsterdam in 1660.
The map extends from Damascus and Sidon in the South, to Edessa, Alexandretta, and Antioch in the North. Also, Aleppo, Palmyrena, Damant, Lebanon, etc. The map extends from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates.
Panoramic view of Sevilla, Spain by Jean Boisseau, 1643 (dated)
This very rare and striking panoramic view of the city of Seville depicts the city from the west bank of the Guadalquivir River. A number of locations are identified in a numbered key below the view. The city's coat of arms is at top right, with the Royal coat of arms of Spain at top left. Printed on two sheets, joined. Most of the views in Boisseau's Theatre des Citez, our Recueil de Plusieurs Villes... were engraved by H. Picart, although there is no engraver's imprint on this view.
Society for the Diffusion Useful Knowledge
Madrid
This is a top-down view of Madrid from 1833 published in Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Drawn by W. B. Clark, Engr. & printed by J. Henshall. Published, Baldwin & Cradock, London, 1833
A Map of the Most Inhabited Part of New England. London, published by Tobias Conrad Lotter, Augsburg, 1776
The German edition of “the first detailed large-scaled map of New England and one of the earliest printed maps of Connecticut” (Goss). "The most detailed and informative pre-revolutionary map of New England ... Not really supplanted until the nineteenth century" (New England prospect, 13).
The German edition follows the 1774 London edition in virtually all respects, including size, detail, and the use of English for all text. It actually improves on the London edition in the quality and sharpness of the engraving and in the richness of the original hand color. The two editions differ in just one way. New York and New Hampshire were locked in a bitter dispute over control of what is now Vermont. The London edition shows that region as under the jurisdiction of New York, while this German edition shows the area of Vermont attached to New Hampshire.
This map was the work of Braddock Meade (alias John Green), the geographical editor for the firm of the original London publisher, Thomas Jefferys. Meade was responsible for many of the best maps of America published in the period. He had “a remarkably advanced view on the collation of information and the correct presentation of it on maps…. [he] deserves to be remembered for breaking away from the old unreformed cartography, and for perceiving clearly, and following as far as existing data permitted, the methods upon which modern cartography was to be established” (Goss).
Meade used William Douglass’s 1753 map of New England as a base map, but adds a great deal of material taken from other sources. The township jurisdictions in what are now New Hampshire and Vermont were probably based on documents sent by the provincial governments of New York and New Hampshire to officials in London, to which the firm of Jefferys would have had access. Drawn on a scale of seven miles to the inch, the map was originally published in 1755, with an inset of Fort Frederick in the upper left corner. This 1774 edition appeared at the outbreak of the American Revolution, with the inset altered to a more useful street plan of Boston. The title cartouche includes a view of the pilgrim’s landing at Plymouth Rock.
HAMBURG. Mejer, Johannes; and Danckwerth, Caspar. Grundtriss der Edlen Weitberumbten Statt Hamburg Anno 1651. Husum, Germany, 1652
I purchased this map of Hamburg to commemorate our visit to the beautiful city of Hamburg for the International Map Collectors Society (IMCoS) Annual Symposium in October 2017.
Harry Beck's iconic map of the London Underground System - First Edition 1933.
The map was designed by the 29 year-old engineer Harry Beck. Abandoning the restrictions of a geographically correct layout, the map actually constitutes a diagram of the network, showing relationships rather than distances to scale. By using only verticals, horizontals and diagonals, and adopting a clear color scheme, Beck created a design classic, both easy to use and aesthetically appealing. After the positive public response to the limited trial run issued in 1932, the design was formally adopted in 1933, becoming an essential part of London Transport's campaign to project itself as a modern, rational and efficient system. The design remains in use to this day, having become essential to the comprehensibility of complex transport networks all over the world.
The present example is the first state of the map issued in January of 1933: the interchange stations are marked with a diamond; the Piccadilly Line is under construction between Enfield West and Cockfosters, due to be opened mid-summer of 1933.
Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova, by BLAEU, Johannes. 1662
This elaborately decorated map is based on the 1614 explorations of Adrian Block, a fur trader working for the Dutch, who sailed from the north shore of Long Island to explore the southern coast of New England. William Blaeu, the premier Dutch map and globe maker of that period, published this map of New York and New England based largely on Block's reports. Oriented with west at the top, it is the first printed map to depict details of the interior of New England, including the first printed map to depict Manhattan as an island. It is also decorated with North American motifs, including Native Americans and their villages and canoes, as well as bears, beavers, turkeys, and other fauna.
A beautiful hand colored map of Damascus, Syria 1575
Damascus, urbs noblissima ad Libanum montem, Totius Sÿriae Metropolis
This is a superb example of the 1575 view of Damascus, produced by Braun and Hogenberg for inclusion in the second volume of their Civitates Orbis Terrarum, the first dedicated city book. The beautifully engraved view, illuminated with superb original color, is one of the earliest printed views of Damascus. It depicts the contemporaneous Muslim walled city; its mosques are prominently shown. Some churches illustrated as well, though one of these, The Church of Saint Paul, is in ruins. In the foreground, two noblemen in Ottoman styles converse; two footmen can be seen leading camels.
Publication History and Census: This view appeared in the second volume of the Civitates in 1575, and it was included in all four subsequent editions with no changes. The Latin city books are well represented in institutional collections, but French editions appear to be scarce and are poorly catalogued.
CARTOGRAPHERS:
Georg Braun (1541 – March 10, 1622) was a German deacon, viewmaker, and typo-geographer based in Cologne. Along with Franz Hogenberg (1535 - 1590), Braun is best known for his publication of the highly influential city atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum. The six volume work, with some 546 views, was published between 1572 and 1617 and intended a companion to Abraham Ortelius' Thatrum Orbis Terrarum - thus certain obvious stylistic similarities. In compiling the Civitates Braun took on the role of editor while most of the engraving work was completed by Franz Hogenberg. Braun died, as he was born, in Cologne.
Franz Hogenberg (1535 - 1590), often called 'Master Franz,' was a Flemish engraver active in the late 16th century. Hogenberg was born in Mechelen, the son of Nicolas Hogenberg, where he trained under the cartographer H. Terbruggen. He later relocated to Antwerp where he achieved success as an engraver, working with Abraham Ortelius, Hieronymus Cock, and others. In 1568, his name appeared on the list of those banned from the Netherlands by the Duke of Alva, forcing his family to flee to London. There he engraved for Christopher Saxon's Atlas of England and Wales. By 1570 he emigrated to Germany settling in Cologne. In Cologne he married his second wife, Agnes Lomar, with whom he had six children. In 1579 the couple were briefly imprisoned for holding illicit secret religious meetings, but were released in short order. Along with German cleric George Braun (1541 – March 10, 1622), Hogenberg issued the highly influential city atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum. The six volume work, with some 546 views, was published between 1572 and 1617 and intended a companion to Abraham Ortelius' Thatrum Orbis Terrarum - thus certain obvious stylistic similarities. In compiling the Civitates Hogenberg took on the role of engraver while most of the editing was left to Georg Braun. Hogenberg died in Cologne, Germany, before the Civitates was completed. After his death, Hogenberg's work was continued by his son, Abraham Hogenberg, who, under the direction of Agnes, his mother, took over his father enterprise at just 20.
SOURCE: Braun, G. and Hogenberg, F. Civitatus Orbis Terrarum, 1575. The Civitatus Orbis Terrarum is an 6-volume atlas of cities, or town book, compiled and written by George Braun, Canon of Cologne Cathedral and Franz Hogenberg. Braun and Hogenberg gathered together vast amounts of information and draft plans to produce over 500 city views/maps published in six parts between 1572 and 1617. Most of the town views and plans were engraved by Simon van den Neuvel (Novellanus) and Frans Hogenberg, many after
China. By: Gerard Mercator / Jodocus Hondius; Date: 1606 (Published) Amsterdam. Dimensions: 18 x 13.5 inches
The beautifully decorated map displays much of East Asia, but China is intended as the focal point. Accordingly, the map notes many Chinese provinces, cities, and geographical features, and shows the Great Wall standing along China’s northern border.
The map is noteworthy for its many errors and curiosities. Europeans knew little about Asia in the early 17th century, and Mercator and Hondius engage in a great deal of speculation about the continent. China is incorrectly represented as having a number of large lakes in its interior. One of them, the mythical Chaimai Lacus, is supposed to form the headwaters of five Indian rivers. Other major Asian countries are misrepresented as well. Korea is shown as an island, while Japan is very badly projected according to the Ortelius-Teixeira model.
There are also many cultural curiosities on display. An inset cartouche shows a Japanese crucifixion, possibly of a Christian missionary, while a unique sail-cart occupies the left side of the map. To the right, a depiction of Alaska is accompanied by text that references Tartar hordes living in the region. The ocean is also replete with decorative flourishes: including an Asian junk boat, a European ship, and a very menacing looking sea monster.
Brasilia. Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673; Blaeu, Willem Janszoon, 1571-1638; Johannes Blaeu. Date: 1650
Oriented with north to the right, this map shows the eastern portion of Brazil. Includes an ornamental cartouche, and illustrations of ships and putti. "Generis nobilitate, armorium et litterarum scientia prestantmo. Heroi Christoph ab Artischau Arciszewski, nuper in Brasilia per triennium tribuno militum Prudentiss. Fortiss. Feliciss. tabulam hanc prono cultu D.D.D. Johannes Blaeu."
Appears in Willem Janszoon Blaeu's Le theatre du monde, ou, Nouuel atlas. Amsterdam: Chez I. Bleau, 1650.
A Plan of London and its Environs. Creighton, R., circa 1840
Engraved folding map from Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary. 17x21 inches sheet size; hand-colored; light soiling, few small closed tears and folds reinforced on verso.
The City of New York. 1939 (dated) 27.5 x 22 in (69.85 x 55.88 cm) Scale: 1 : 76000
This 1939 Richard Edes Harrison map of New York City - published in conjunction with the New York World’s Fair – represents a triumph of the visual display of quantitative information. Its aesthetic impact is all the more impressive in its clear expression of municipal and demographic data, making this a map of the people of New York City, as much as of the physical city itself. All five boroughs are represented in the primary map. On it, Harrison’s masterful use of vivid color to distinguish between residential, commercial, industrial, and federal use of land is clear yet supple, able to make distinction (for example) of low-income housing projects using the same palette. Parks and cemeteries both appear as green spaces, with white spots - evoking headstones - indicating the difference between the two. The two major airports (Floyd Bennett Field and North Beach Airport) are given their own color as well. The city’s industrial areas, shown in black, dominate the East River and Hudson coastlines, a reminder of the centrality of trade to the city’s development and history.
The Lower Half of Manhattan in Detail
Underneath the map’s title, a detail of Manhattan from the middle of Central Park to The Battery allows for the presentation, in finer detail, of New York’s finer life: Using a new color code, Harrison marks the city’s most valuable real estate (structures assessed at 5 million dollars or more!) These include business buildings, stores, apartment houses, theatres… and ‘other theatres.’ (The precise nature of that last distinction is not made clear.)
Day And Night
Though smaller and perhaps more abstract, the detail in the lower right-hand corner of the map matches the rest of it in fascination: a dual map of all five boroughs in miniature, using bright and dark palettes to show the changing population density of the city by day and by night. Never was the diurnal chaos of the New York City commute presented so cleanly. In an old-world touch, the map sports a very elegant compass rose. But even this is packed full of useful detail: within its circuit is yet another inset map, showing the ‘limit of the main map’ in the context of the greater metropolitan area and the surrounding states. Publication History and Census This map appeared in only one edition, as a supplement to the July issue of Fortune Magazine. OCLC lists five examples in institutional collections.
CARTOGRAPHER
Richard Edes Harrison (1902 - January 5, 1994) was an American cartographer and cartoonist active in the middle part of the 20th century. Harrison is credited with redefining cartography, especially journalistic cartography, by employing spherical perspective, bold shading, and graphic design to both make maps more publicly accessible and give them an artistic dimension. Harrison was born in Baltimore and studied design at Yale, graduating in 1923, before relocating to New York City at the height of the Great Depression. He made ends meet through industrial design work, creating everything from bottles to ashtrays. His first foray into the cartographic world was a fill-in job at Fortune magazine. The editors at Fortune must have admired his work for it launched a long-standing collaboration. His work, doubtless inspired by the age of air travel, became exceptionally popular during World War II, where his unique approach and political charged subject matter illustrated the seats of war with exceptional poignancy and clarity. After the war, Harrison continued to produce maps from his base in New York City. In his spare time he was an avid ornithologist and was commonly seen in Central Park in search of rare bird sightings.
Vintage Map of Madrid
Interesting and rare map of Madrid, published for the Banco Exterior de España. This large isometric view is in the vein of Turgot, Blondel La Rougery, and Bollman. Jorge Guzman Hernandez also produced a map of Madrid.
Plano de Madrid.
1849 (dated) 29 x 40 in
A fine example of Francisco Coello de Portugal y Quesada's massive map of Madrid, Spain. Coello's map is one of the finest and largest maps of Madrid to appear in the 19th century. Centered on the Puerta del Sol, this map covers the center of modern Madrid as well as the surrounding parks, farms, and estates - most of which have since been urbanized. Several decorative vignettes decorate the upper left and right quadrants. The map is advanced with detailed indexes identifying government offices, schools, libraries, museums, hospitals, convents, churches, theaters, streets, and plazas. Additional topographical and historical descriptive text appears in the upper left and right corners, respectively. Engraved by D. Juan Noguera in Madrid for Coello's unfinished opus Atlas de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar.
CARTOGRAPHER
Francisco Coello de Portugal y Quesada (1822 - September 30, 1898) was a Spanish cartographer, explorer, and military engineer active in the mid-19th century. Coello was born in Jaen, Spain and joined the military in 1833, enrolling at the Special Army Corps of Engineers Academy of Guadalajara. Upon graduating with honors he joined Corps of Military Engineers where after serving in the First Carlist War, and later in Algeria, he attained the rank of Colonel. Coello later founded the Geographical Society of Madrid and served many years as its president. He was also a corresponding member of the American Geographical Society and a full member of the Real Sociedad Geográfica de España. Coello's greatest work, his monumental Atlas de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar, was truncated by his death in 1898 and consequently never completed. Nevertheless, the work is of historical significance as the first scientifically produced maps of Spain, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
“Hispania” Mercator/Hondius, 1610 (published)
Charming hand colored miniature map of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands with considerable detail throughout. A sailing ship is shown entering the Straits of Gibraltar and a large strapwork title cartouche further decorates the map. Latin text on verso.
Brazil Sanson, Nicolas, 1705 (published)
This is a reduced version of Sanson's important map showing the Portuguese possessions in Brazil. The coastal regions were divided by the Portuguese Crown into fourteen Capitanias, or hereditary harbor offices. The holders of these grants, called donees (donatários), were responsible for their defense and development. There is also a fair amount of detail in the interior, along the major rivers. The mythical Lago de R. los Xarayes appears at left and the otherwise unknown interior is conveniently covered by the decorative title cartouche. Published in Francois Halma's Dutch edition of A. Pherotee de la Croix's Nouvelle Methode Pour Apprendre facilement la Geographie Universelle.
Sanson's small maps from his L'Amerique en Plusieurs Cartes..., first published in 1657 and engraved by A. Peyrounin, were copied several times by various map publishers. Johann David Zunners made copies of Sanson's maps for his German translation of Die Gantze Erd-Kugel in 1679. Johannes Ribbius and Simon de Vries published copies in 1682 and 1683, with new maps engraved by Antoine d'Winter. The plates were later sold to Francois Halma, who used them in 1699 and then again in 1705 with the titles re-engraved in Dutch. The titles on the d'Winter plates were re-engraved back into French, and then used by Nicholas Chemereau in 1715 and by Henri du Sauzet in 1738.
Bollmann’s Pictorial Map of New York
1963 (dated) 33 x 42 in (83.82 x 106.68 cm)
One of the greatest cartographic feats of all time, this 1963 axonometric ('bird's eye view') map of New York City was the first such since 1866. The technique dates back to the 15th century, and developed in Germany into a fully flowered cartographic art form called Vogelschaukarten in Germany in the 1800s. This particular map was prepared by Herman Bollmann for the 1964 New York World's Fair, where it was sold at information and tourist kiosks.
In making the map in the 1950s, Herman Bollmann and his staff faced a seemingly insurmountable problem, one never before encountered by his few predecessors in axonometric cartography: how to show New York's many and densely concentrated skyscrapers from the same angle and relative height, while not obscuring most of the city behind them?
He and his team designed and built special cameras to take 67,000 photos, 17,000 from the air. Using these photos as a base, they then began to hand draw the entire city. Using then-secret cartographic techniques, Bollmann and team managed to depict the smallest details while simultaneously conveying the city's soaring, vertiginous beauty.
The viewer is thus placed in the position of an Olympian God, a perspective that no other technologic and artistic form offers, even in the Internet age: with this map spread out before you, you have the ability to look upon any part of the city at will, down to its smallest detail, without waiting for a camera to pan or zoom or cut, without waiting for the next web page to load or zoom.
The guidebook-- written in english, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese-- lists sights, hotels, restaurants and shops, making the work a valuable time capsule to a vanished city. One of the crowning glories of modern cartography, this stunning achievement is a must-have for those who love New York, bird's eye view and the history of cartography.
known woodcarver and engraver based in Braunschweig, Germany. Following the war Bollmann developed a reputation as a printer of unique three dimensional maps. Working over a period of 25 years, Bollmann established a reputation as an artistic cartographer, producing over 39 unique projections of various cities in Europe and America. Bollmann revived the 19th century cartographic technique known as Vogelschaukarten, a way of making three dimensional axonometric projections. Bollmann and his team relied heavily on aerial cartography to compose distinctive cartographic masterpieces that are coveted by collectors all over the world.
Interesting and detailed map of most of New England in 1788. This is contemporary to when my ancestors who were Revolutionary War Patriots lived in Amherst, New Hampshire and fought in battles in Bennington, Rhode Island, and West Point during Arnold’s Treason.
The map shows counties, townships, towns, forts, rivers, lakes, etc. Maine is listed as Part of the District of Main belonging to Massachusetts Bay.
Various notes describe the White Hills, the limits of the Survey of the Connecticut River, and other interesting colonial information.
From Dr. Gordon's History of the American War. Engraved by Thomas Conder.