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Map of the City and County of New York With the Adjacent Country.
Ithaca: Stone & Clark, 1840. Hand-colored engraving, 19.875 x 49.5” plus margins. CONDITION: Very good, a few light stains in margins, expert repairs on verso to quite small losses along one old fold, with no effect on image. A fine map of Manhattan from David Burr’s Atlas of the State of New York, originally published in 1830 (although dated 1829), and only the second atlas fully devoted to a U.S. state after Robert Mills’s atlas of South Carolina. This map is the stated third edition of 1840, and the apparent second state (with the date changed from 1839 to 1840), corresponding to Plates 2 and 3 from Burr’s pioneering statewide atlas. Originally published under the auspices of Surveyor General of New York Simeon De Witt, it shows the full length of the island of Manhattan (then coextensive with New York City and County), along with surrounding areas in New Jersey and Brooklyn, and the then sparsely-populated Bronx and Queens. The map is distinguished by its horizontal orientation—showing west at the top—and abundant detail. It shows streets (built and proposed), railways, ferries, bridges, parks, forts, batteries, aqueducts, canals, reservoirs, public squares, schools, prisons, asylums, rivers, and marshland. A list of “Remarks” provides additional survey information about the street network. The ornamental cartouche contains an embellished version of the New York City Seal, showing a Lenape man and European sailor on either side of a shield depicting a windmill, beavers, and flour barrels. The map reflects the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the urban design project that established the city’s famous grid layout. Here, Burr incorporates the plan to reclaim submerged land on the Hudson and East Rivers by extending the street network into the water. Thus, many of the streets in northern Manhattan had yet to be developed. He also provides an outline for a proposed “Great Pier” along the Hudson. David H. Burr (1803–1875) had a long career as a public geographer and cartographer. Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Burr moved to upstate New York in 1822 and studied law. There, he joined the state militia and served as an aide-de-camp to Governor De Witt Clinton, where he received a surveying commission along the Erie Canal under Surveyor General Simeon De Witt, having no prior training in surveying. Around 1827, Burr received support from Governor Clinton to produce his Atlas of the State of New York, which was published in 1830 (with maps dated 1829). Following the success of this publication, Burr went on to issue many other maps of New York, the United States, and the world. He published the New Universal Atlas of the World in 1835 and—following his appointment as Topographer to the U.S. Post Office—the Postal Atlas of the United States in 1839. Burr held several important positions in the federal government, including Geographer to the House of Representatives, and later Geographer to the Senate. He was appointed to multiple terms as Surveyor General in various U.S. states and territories, beginning with Florida in 1848, followed by Louisiana in 1850, and Utah in 1855. He retired in 1857. REFERENCES: Ristow, Walter. American Maps and Mapmakers (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1985), pp. 103–105; “David H. Burr, Mapmaker” at Maritime Heritage Project online.
Item #9633
Price: $6,500.00
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