Map Brooklyn Williamsburg (2 results)

Good. Some minor toning and foxing. Light water staines. On original linen. Stable. Size 29.25 x 53.75 Inches. This is J. H. Colton's large and impressive case map of New York City, including Brooklyn and Williamsburg. It is one of the largest and best maps of New York City to emerge in the mid-19th century. A Closer Look This map is a lineal descendent of Colton's New York City map of 1836, one of his first and most influential maps. As such, it follows Burr's engraving in illustrating Manhattan 'on its side' with a northwesterly orientation. Coverages here extends across both the Hudson and East Rivers to incorporate Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Queens (Astoria), Jersey City, and Hoboken. Shading emphasizes those parts of Manhattan with the most development: generally south of 34th St. and north along Third Avenue as far as Yorkville (86th St.) and Harlem (Haerlem; 124th Street). The full street grid is comprehensively laid out according to the 1811 Commissioner's Plan as far north as 154th Street, north of which the grid is tentatively ghosted-in. (This plan for northern Manhattan was ultimately modified due to the hilly terrain.) An inset in the upper left details the city as mapped by Ames Lyne in 1728. Other insets detail Boston and Philadelphia, the nearest large cities. A further inset in the lower right illustrates the greater New York area, extending coverage as far west as Moriston and New Brunswick and as far east as Manhasset. In the upper right, there is a version of the famed Visscher View, here attributed (correctly) to Adrien Van der Donck (Dunk) and dated (maybe accurately) to 1656. The view shows New York under the Dutch, before the construction of its fortifications. A cargo hoist and gallows (empty) are recognizable in the foreground. Publication History and Census This map was engraved by David Griffing Johnson and was likely first issued in 1845. The New York Public Library holds an edition dating to 1849, though largely similar. We see an 1857 example at the Library of Congress (G3804.N4 1857 .J2). We see no other examples of this 1853 edition, though we do see a map of the same title at the New York Public Library issued by Thayer, Bridgman and Fanning. References: Haskell, D., Manhattan Maps A Co-operative List, #808. OCLC 55226720.

Very good. Steel plate printing on onion-skin paper. Wear and toning along some old fold lines. Archival verso reinforcement at most fold intersections - a few minor points of infill at the same. Accompanies original binder. Size 36 x 48 Inches. This is J. H. Colton's impressive large-scale 1852 map of Brooklyn and Williamsburg. In its 1839 first edition, it is the Brooklyn equivalent to both the 1811 Commissioner' Plan and Colton's great 1836 map of Manhattan, and as such can reasonably be considered the most important and best map of Brooklyn to appear in the 19th century. The present map, 1852, is, in so far as we can tell, the third edition, retaining much of the significance of the first, while also featuring fascinating updates illustrating the break-neck pace with which Brooklyn was then urbanizing. Creating Brooklyn This map was first issued in the wake of a February 28, 1839 New York State legislative act validating the work of Brooklyn Street Commissioners John S. Stoddard (surveyor and engineer), Alonzo. G. Hammond (commissioner), Samuel Cheever (commissioner), and Isaiah Tiffany (commissioner). These individuals were appointed four years earlier, in 1835, and dedicated the intervening years to completing a comprehensive plan for expanding urbanized Brooklyn by breaking up old estates and farms into streets, avenues, and property lots. The Act passed in 1839 confirmed their work as the official map of Brooklyn - this map by Colton closely followed, representing the earliest published official map of Brooklyn. In the first edition, Stoddard, Hammond, Cheever, and Tiffany are named. In subsequent editions, as here, they are named simply as 'the Commissioners'. It is likely that their names were removed due to criticism that made their names unpopular. A Bit of Controversy The publication of this map in 1839 was the cause of considerable controversy. Hammond, who drew the map, initially submitted the copyright on his own behalf, before transferring it to Colton. It was argued that by doing so he violated the rights of the city of Brooklyn. He defended himself in the Long Island Star , While the laying out of the city was in progress, very many highly respectable citizens were in the frequent habit of calling upon Mr. Hammond at his office, and enquiring how they could obtain a map when the work was completed, and if one would be published? Under these influences Messrs Hammond and Stoddard entered into an arrangement by which the former was to secure the copy right for their mutual benefit, and the latter was to furnish a manuscript, and to unite their exertions to procure the publication of such a map In doing this no pecuniary motive had influence and feared they might sustain a loss [believing] that none but a map publisher could safely publish with the prospect of covering expenses they transferred all benefits of the copy right to Mr. Colton of New York, a justly celebrated publisher The city of Brooklyn, as such, could never publish a map for the use of the citizens without expenditure far above their receipts. ('Long Island Star', March 14, 1839) A Closer Look Oriented to the southeast, coverage embraces only a small part of modern-day Brooklyn, including Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Red Hook, Gowanus, Park Slope, Greenwood Cemetery, the Navy Yard, and Sunset Park. Southern Manhattan and Governors islands appear at the base of the map. Concentric circles in quarter-mile increments illustrate distances from the Battery, underscoring Brooklyn's deep and long-standing connection to Manhattan - even though at the time they remained separate cities. The map also meticulously notes swamp lands and drainage areas of natural ponds and rivers, including some that remain (if much changed) like Gowanus Creek and Bushwick Inlet, and others, like Freek and Denton's mill ponds, which have long been drained. Brooklyn Farm Lines Like Manhattan during his same period.