David Rumsey Historical Map Collection » Blog

DPLA Announces Partnership with Rumsey Map Collection

2013-05-01T13:19:21-07:00

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is partnering with the David Rumsey Map Collection to provide online access to tens of thousands of significant historical maps and images. As part of the relationship, David Rumsey will provide metadata for over 38,000 maps and images, making the entirety of his notable online collection instantly accessible via the DPLA website and API.

The Eagle Map of the United States. 1833. Joseph and James Churchman, Philadelphia. In: Rudiments of National Knowledge, Presented To The Youth Of The United States, And To Enquiring Foreigners, 1833.

A couple prominent examples of items from the Rumsey collections available through the DPLA are The Eagle Map of the United States, produced by Joseph and James Churchman, Philadelphia, 1833, (view on the DPLA), and the Map of Lewis and Clark’s Track, Across the Western Portion of North America, produced in 1814 (view on the DPLA). Other noteworthy items from Rumsey’s collections range from maps found in historic atlases to images of three-dimensional objects such as globes.

“I am very excited to have my digital library of historical maps added to the DPLA,” Rumsey said. “Maps tell stories that complement texts, images, and other resources found in the growing DPLA library. And the open content policies of my online library fit perfectly with DPLA’s mission to make cultural resources freely available to all. I see DPLA as reinvigorating the role of public libraries in educating children and adults in the digital age. I hope that my participation can serve as an example to others with private collections to share them with the public through the DPLA. Private collectors have always helped to build libraries and now they can do the same with digital cultural assets.”

“David Rumsey’s incredible collection of historical maps is one of the great private collections in the United States,” added DPLA Executive Director Dan Cohen. “What he has been able to assemble and make broadly available is simply astonishing. It is an honor to have these maps as part of the DPLA, and together to help others discover what their communities looked like in the past. We thank David for his generosity.”

Rumsey, President of Cartography Associates, a digital publishing company based in San Francisco, began building a collection of North and South American historical maps and related cartographic materials in 1980. His collection, with more than 150,000 maps, is one of the largest private map collections in the United States. In 1995, Rumsey began the task of making his collection public by building the online David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. Currently the online web site has over 38,000 high-resolution images of maps from his collection.

In 2009, Rumsey committed to donating his entire collection – both physical and digital – to Stanford University, which is currently creating an all-new Map Center to house it.

Rumsey’s online collection of maps is free to the public and is updated monthly. All of the online maps are searchable via the DPLA.

About the Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. The DPLA aims to expand this crucial realm of openly available materials, and make those riches more easily discovered and more widely usable and used. More information is online at http://dp.la.

About the David Rumsey Map Collection

The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 25 years ago and contains more than 150,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century maps of North and South America, although it also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, wall maps, globes, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children’s, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from about 1700 to 1950s.

February 11, 2013 - 2,745 New Maps Added

2013-01-31T13:24:42-08:00

2,745 new maps and images have been added to the David Rumsey Map Collection, bringing the online collection to 37,365 maps and related images. Highlights in this addition are Cruz Cano's large wall map of South America 1775, two miniature atlases from 1758 and 1762, maps by Aaron Arrowsmith, a large group of pocket maps, an important large wall map of Georgia 1818, three copies of Tanner's American Atlas 1823, 1824, 1833, 63 birds-eye views of the Austrian countryside around Vienna 1837, Emma Willard's Chronographer of American History 1845, an 1870 Union Pacific Railroad map game, the 26 sheet 1880 Map of Western Palestine (also in Google Earth), 1885 Map of Chinatown in San Francisco (also in Google Earth), six Panoramic Views of U.S. National Parks 1914-15, 72 years (1918-90) of official California State Highway System maps, and the 1966 Atlas of Czechoslovakia. All titles may be found by clicking on the View links or images below. Or click here to view all 2,745 new maps and images.

	Mapa Geografico De America Meridional, 1775 Cruz Cano y Olmedilla, Juan de la; Ricarte, Hippolytus, Madrid This is probably the most important map of South America made in the 18th century. When the eight sheets are joined together they make a huge and impressive wall map. The author, Juan de la Cruz Cano y Olmedilla, spent ten years collecting measurements and information compiled by explorers and colonists and incorporated these into the map along with valuable geographical and historical news, with some references to the sources used. This is the second edition with all the sheets from the second edition (except sheet 8, the title sheet which is first edition in all copies). The first edition was somewhat incomplete, almost like a proof. Lavishly and beautifully embellished, the map emphasizes Spanish colonial power in South America. The map went through many editions with various political implications over a period of decades. The only other copy of this complete second edition is in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. Two large inset maps: Puerto de Callao (Lima) and Sitio de Angostura (site of Angostura). View Map
	Atlas Minimus, 1758; Atlas Geographicus Portatilis, 1762 Gibson, John; Bowen, Emanuel , London Lotter, Tobias Conrad; Lobeck, Tobias, Augsburg Two important miniature pocket atlases from the 18th century. The Gibson and Bowen Atlas Minimus went through another London edition in 1792 and a Philadelphia edition by Matthew Carey in 1798. Lotter's Atlas Geographicus Portatilis consists entirely of double-page engraved plates and hand-colored maps. The maps are dense with information, given their small size.View both Miniature Atlases
	The General Atlas For Carey's Edition Of Guthrie's Geography Improved ... 1795 Carey, Mathew, Philadelphia This atlas accompanies Carey's Philadelphia edition of William Guthrie's Geography, a popular world geography published in several countries in the late 18th century. The maps are similar to those published in Carey's General Atlas of 1796 (see our copy). This atlas is the first world atlas published in America - however, the 1796 edition above is also considered the first because it was issued as a separate atlas, not tied to the Guthrie Geography; it went through several editions up to 1818. View Atlas
	Two Editions of Wilkinson's General Atlas of the World, 1806 and 1808, and the 1823 Edition of Wilkinson's Atlas Classica. Wilkinson, Robert, London Wilkinson's General Atlas maps were copied freely by American mapmakers of the period, especially the non-American maps. American map publishers such as Lucas, Morse (S.E.), and Cummings & Hilliard (and Worcester) did this. Tooley says the last edition of Wilkinson's Genreal Atlas was 1809 (there appear to be no differences other than the title page between the 1808 and 1809 editions); Phillips has 1807; Moreland mentions 1816 as a re-issue - this also was probably used by the Americans. Wilkinson's Atlas Classica was also a source copied by American publishers for their classical atlases. The first Wilkinson Atlas Classica edition was 1797; this copy is a fairly late issue. Relief shown in various styles of hachures and sketches. Includes six "Chrono-Geneological Charts." View Atlases
	Colombia Prima or South America, In which it has been attempted to delineate the Extent of our Knowledge of that Continent Extracted Chiefly from the Original Manuscript Maps of His Excellency the late Chevalier Pinto Likewise from those of Joao Joaquin da Rocha, Joao da Costa Ferreira, El Padre Francisco Manuel Sobrevielo &c. And From the most Authentic Edited Accounts of Those Countries, 1807 Faden, William, 1750?-1836; Delarochette, Louis Stanislas d'Arcy, London An enormous early 19th century map of South America, rivaled only by Arrowsmith's map of 1810/1814. Shows the various colonial possessions with great detail. Scale approximate; six different scales provided. A compilation based on many reputable sources, as itemized on Sheet 8. Index on cover uses the title,"South America from the Latest Spanish and Portuguese Surveys". Each of the 8 sheets are cut into rectangles and backed with sturdy white muslin. Relief shown in hachures. Limits of the dominions of the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch highlighted in color. Multiple languages per dominions, and includes English. View Map
	13 Maps and 1 Atlas by Aaron Arrowsmith, various dates, 1799 to 1822 Arrowsmith, Aaron, London Continuing our placing online the non-American maps of Aaron Arrowsmith (see our previous group of Arrowsmith maps here), we have added maps of Egypt, Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales (2 editions), Germany (2 editions), East India Islands, Greece, Asia Minor, and Southeast Asia. Included also is a small five sheet atlas titled "Complete Neptune, to Illustrate, by Arrowsmith, The Progress of Maritime Discovery," which shows the progress of mapping the coast of Africa from Gibraltar south to the Cape of Good Hope. Typical of Arrowsmith's fine cartography, the maps are extraordinarily detailed and up-to-date for their time. View Maps View All Arrowsmith Maps
	Oddy's New General Atlas Of The World Containing Maps of Empires, Kingdoms, States Principalities &c. Engraved and Carefully Selected from the latest and most Approved Authors by James Wallis. London. Published by S.A. Oddy, No. 20 Warwick Lane & Sold by Davies & Eldridge, Exeter, Thompson & Wrightson, Birmingham & T. Sutherland, Edinburgh. 1811 Oddy, S.A.; Wallis, James, London Obscure atlas not in Phillips. Similar to Wilkinson, but different. Important for being the source of most of the non U.S. state maps published by Lucas in his New and Elegant General Atlas of 1815 (see our copy). Most of these maps were also used in the 1823 General Atlas by Lucas, although North America was done new as well as a few others. Maps are hand painted in full color. Prime meridian London. Relief shown by sketches. View Atlas
	A Military and Topographical Atlas of the United States; including The British Possessions & Florida ... To Which Is Added, A List Of The Military Districts, A Register Of The Army, And A List Of The Navy Of The United States, 2 editions, 1813 and 1815. Melish, John, Philadelphia 1st edition. and 2nd edition. The first edition was published during the war of 1812, and thus has the feeling of events unfolding with an uncertain outcome. The second edition was published in 1815 after the conclusion of the war, and has different text, and is more of a history. Henry Tanner engraved the five large maps that Melish drew, and J. Vallance engraved the three small maps. We believe this is the first book Melish published with the idea that it was an "Atlas." View Atlases
	372 Pocket Maps and Related Images, Various Dates, 1813 - 1969. Various Authors and various Publishers. A wide ranging group of Pocket Maps from the 19th and 20th centuries. View Maps
	Comparative View of the Heights of the Principal Mountains &c. in the World, 1816 Smith, C., London Third edition. A colorful rendering of comparative mountain heights worldwide, although separated into the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Other aspects of the illustration (with the exception of showing volcanoes) appear to be fanciful. Substantially more taller mountains than an earlier edition (although the same date). The peaks are listed, each with a unique number which can be matched up with the numbers at the top and bottom of the illustration. By making a line between the numbers, the corresponding peak is intersected. View Map
	Comparative View of the Lengths of the Principal Rivers in the World, 1817 Smith, C., London This is a companion map to the Heights of Mountains map also by Smith. The rivers have been necessarily straightened to indicate the lengths of the rivers. The compass orientation of the flowing stream is indicated by small north-pointing arrows periodically drawn adjacent to the stream. Includes table of the Length of Rivers in British Miles. A textual description of the rivers accompanies the illustration; it describes the course of the Missouri River, "recently explored by the Americans" (Lewis and Clark), as being "extremely devious." Beautiful color. View Map
	Map Of The State of Georgia Prepared from actual Surveys and other Documents for Eleazer Early By Daniel Sturges, 1818 Early, Eleazer; Sturges, Daniel, Savannah This is the first large scale map of Georgia and it ranks in importance with the other large Southern State and Territory maps of the period. It was undoubtedly the most accurate Georgia map when published, It has a lovely cartouche vignette, a table of distances, a statistical table, and "Remarks, Statistical and Geological." Streeter: "All in all an important and elaborate map of Georgia in the first part of the nineteenth century." View Map
	A New American Atlas Containing Maps Of The Several States of the North American Union, Projected and drawn on a Uniform Scale from Documents found in the public Offices of the United States and State Governments, and other Original and Authentic Information - Three Editions, 1823, 1824, 1833 Tanner, Henry, Philadelphia Three editions of this important atlas, each with different or similar issues of the maps. After the first edition of this atlas, it is clear from looking at these and later issues that Tanner simply used maps that were available in his stock, regardless of whether they were the more recently updated copies. Nonetheless, the atlases represent an extraordinarily detailed and accurate look at the political and industrial development of the United States at the time. View Atlases View All Six Editions of the American Atlas.
	A Group of 58 Guide Books from 1819 to 1934 Various Authors, Various Places Includes city guides, state guides, national railroad guides, a guide to Chicago including a "history of the Great Fire," Langley's Street Guide to San Francisco with all the street listing pages, Boardman's White Mountain Guide, Guides to Canals and Railroads, Norman's Guide to New Orleans, Disturnell's Hudson River Guide, and others. Many of the guides contain interesting illustrations, views, and advertisements. View Guides
	Karte der Schweiz, von Dr. I. Woerl. Lithographie von B. Herder in Freiburg im Breisgau, 1835 Woerl, Joseph Edmund; Herder, Bartholomew, Freiburg im Breisgau This little-known map of Switzerland by Joseph Edmund Woerl is an important record of the Swiss road network in the early 19th century. It is also an outstanding example of early lithographic map printing. Woerl seems to have pioneered a method of using color lithography to show roads and important places and towns - he used a red lithographic stone for a second overlay printing. Espenhorst speculates that Woerl may have used a unique combination of lithography and engraving to produce these maps. View Maps
	Hand Atlas Uber Alle Theile Der Erde nach dem neuesten Zustande Und Uber Das Weltgebaude, 1837 Stieler, Adolf, Gotha Date estimated. 29 maps as issued thus a smaller version; 50 was the standard issue. Maps dated 1828-37. The atlas was originally issued in parts in 1816-23, totaling 50 maps. In 1832 a 63 map edition was advertised to be issued in 6 parts. See P6039 for further details. The Stieler Hand Atlas was often issued with different numbers of maps, tailored to fit the customer's specific needs. View Atlas
	Nach Angabe und auf Kosten des Verfassers der Darstellung des Erzharzofthums Osterreich unter der Ens. (The depiction of the Archduchy Austria below the Enns), 1837 Schweickhardt, Franz Xaver, Vienna An extraordinary group of 63 birds-eye views of the Austrian countryside that all fit together into one very large image (we also have the composite image of all 63 joined). Schweickhardt intended to make 160 views but was unable to finish the project due to financial difficulties.The views show the cultural landscape of the period in great detail, with settlements, buildings, roads, trees, and other features. View Atlas View in Google Earth
	Willard's Chronographer of American History, 1845 Willard, Emma, New York Willard uses the Historic Tree as a visualization of important events in American history. A smaller version of this diagram appears in one of her text books. Willard sums up her goal with this chart: "The eye is the only medium of permanent impression. The essential point in a date, is to know the relative place of an event, or how it stands in time, compared with other important events." View Map
	Topographical & Geological Map Of The Property Belonging To The Brady's Bend Iron Co. Located In Armstrong County Pa., 1850 Franks, Theo.; Brady's Bend Iron Co., Pittsburgh This remarkable large map shows in great detail the works of the Brandy's Bend Iron Co. on the Allegheny River northeast of Pittsburgh. The scale is large and the map is subtly colored. All the buildings, tracks, roads and Collieries are delineated. There is a "Geological Section from Notes by Prof. Shepherd" showing the land on which the Iron Company is built. Two vignettes show the imposing buildings. Why this map was made is not clear, certainly not for general consumption, but perhaps for investors or others specifically interested in the Companies facilities. The date is estimated. Scale 300 feet to an inch. View Map
	Atlas Of Physical Geography, Illustrating, In A Series Of Original Designs, The Elementary Facts Of Geology, Hydrology, Meteorology, And Natural History, 1852 Johnston, A. Keith, Edinburgh, London Smaller edition of the Johnston's large physical atlas of 1856 (first issued in 1848). The thematic maps are simplified and in that process become very interesting in themselves. Printed in full color. Relief shown by hachures. View Atlas
	Department of Oregon. Map of the State of Oregon and Washington Territory, 1859 U.S. War Department, Topographical Engineers, Washington, D.C. Wheat: "Map shows Washington Territory curving around the state of Oregon and taking in all of Idaho, although a political border is not shown. A number of "authorities" are stated in a note, and except for the unexplored portions this seems to be about the best map of Oregon, Washington and Idaho country that could have been made prior to the Civil War. It is an excellent map." This map was part of a series of maps by the U.S. Topographical Engineers - see Wheat 960 "Map of Utah Territory" 1858 and Wheat 967 "Territory and Military Department of New Mexico 1859." View Map
	Illustrirter Handatlas fur Freunde der Erdkunde und Zum Gebrauch Beim Unterricht im verein mit Heinrich Leutemann Herausgegeben von Ehrenfried Leeder und Theodor Schade, 1863 Brockhaus, F.A.; Leeder, Ehrenfried; Leutemann, Heinrich, Leipzig. Lavishly illustrated around margins of maps with high quality vignettes of animals, structures and people. Espenhorst: "The atlas had 22 maps, drawn under the direction of Ehrenfried Leeder (1820-1884), as well as illustrations produced by Heinrich Leutemann (1824-1905), who had been working for Brockhaus since 1837. The 32 unnumbered pages of accompanying text were prepared under the direction of Theodor Schade (1820-1882)...Leutemann produced over 200 steel-engraved illustrations, most of which were used as frames around the maps...Thus each sheet had a colored map in its center, surrounded by appropriate scenes illustrating the land and its people, the animals and plants to be found there as well as the buildings and scenery which could be seen...these atlases are so sought after today that a reprint of the 1863 edition was produced in 2005." View Atlas
	Carta corografica del Estado de Panama, 1865 Columbia. Comision Corografica; Ponce de Leon, Manuel, Paris, Bogota One of the earliest printed maps of Panama based upon indigenous surveys. Published during the period when it was still one of the states of Colombia. This map was part of the mapping of Colombia undertaken by Ponce de Leon, Maria Paz, and Codazzi. With Codazzi's death, Maria Paz and Manuel Ponce de Leon were given control of the project's completion and publication of the surveying and mapping work. View Map
	Detailed Maps Of The North West Boundary From Points Roberts To The Rocky Mountains Between The United States And The British Possessions, 1866 U.S. North West Boundary Survey; Campbell, Archibald, New York 7 very large and detailed maps of the boundary. The maps are undated and not listed specifically in any sources we can locate. These maps are unusual in appearance because of the photo-lithographic enlargement - a great deal of detail is apparent. When put together the seven sheets are about forty feet long - we have made a composite. View Maps
	United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel. Clarence King. Geologist in Charge. Atlas Accompanying Volume III on Mining Industry, 1870 King, Clarence, Washington, D.C. Early geological mapping of the Comstock Lode - a later and more detailed rendering of the Comstock Lode appears in Becker's subsequent 1882 U.S. Geological Survey Atlas of the Geology of the Comstock Lode. By that time Clarence King was Director of the U.S.G.S. Excellent overview map showing the locations of mines along the route of King's 40th Parallel survey. View Atlas
	The Voyage from New York to San Francisco upon the Union Pacific Railroad. El Viage De Nueva York A San Francisco Sobre el ferro-carril pacifico de los estados unidos. Reise von New-York nach San Francisco auf der Union-Pacific Bahn. Il viaggio di Nuova York a San Francisco sulla strada ferrata pacifica degli stati uniti. De reis van New-York na San-francisco op de Pacific-ijzerbaan van de vereenigte Staaten. Le voyage de New-york a San Francisco sur le chemin de fer pacific des etats unis, 1870 Union Pacific Railroad Game, No Place of Publication Date and author estimated, not indicated in the printed materials. An unusual board game based on the "new Union Pacific Railroad." The game board shows forty five beautifully executed views of places along the Union Pacific route, starting with "Rail road depot in New York" and ending in "San Francisco, the metropolis of California." Along the way, we have, among others, views of Pittsburgh, Omaha, "surprise by savage Indians," "wild heard of buffalloes," "railroad bridge over the Platte river," Cheyenne, Green River, Humboldt Valley, "Trukee" Valley, Sierra Nevada and Sacramento. The text is titled "Trip from New-York to San Francisco by the Union Pacific Rail Road. A new illustrated Travel-game with 45 stations, 1 dy, 12 cars and 12 numbers charts." The text is written in German and English and explains the game and the views. The cover of the game box (19x24) has a lovely colored litho view of two women joining hands across the American Continent, one representing America and the other Asia. Not in any of the standard game references - rare. View Game
	Carte drolatique d'Europe pour 1870 Hadol, Paul, 1835-1875, Paris Each country is represented by human and animal form of a cartoon character that reflects the personality of each country at the onset of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Russia, embracing all the German states, expands in every direction with one hand placed firmly on Holland and Belgium. With one knee she crushes Austria. The map is attributed to Paul Hadol, a French caricaturist of the Napoleonic Third Empire. View Map
	Hand Atlas Uber Alle Theile Der Erde Und Uber Das Weltgebaude. Erste Auscabe 1817 Jubel Auscabe 1867, 1873 Stieler, Adolf, Gotha Date estimated. A composite atlas with title page, no index. A strange collection in original binding, indicating it was made up for a customer who seemed to want several maps of the same area, but with different publication dates. Maps are dated from early 1860's to 1873. According to the title page, 1817 was the first edition of Stieler's Atlas; Title page is dated 1867. Some of the multi-sheet map sets are incomplete, as in the United States with three sheets of six. View Atlas
	Reports upon the Survey of the Boundary Between the Territory of the United States and the Possessions of Great Britain from the Lake of the Woods to the Summit of the Rocky Mountains, 1878 U.S. Northern Boundary Commission; Campbell, Archibald; Twining, W.J., Washington Surveys from Lake of the Woods to Rocky Mts. A separate atlas of 24 maps was published to accompany this report. See also the 1866 U.S. North West Boundary maps for the survey from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. View Report
	The Statistical Atlas of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1882 Bevan, G. Phillips, Edinburgh, London This atlas is interesting for its visualization of statistical data of various kinds, using maps of England, Scotland, and Ireland to place data regarding crime, agriculture, education, mining, religion, and more. However the maps themselves are somewhat unimaginative in showing the data: basically, the data is placed on the maps in different colors and symbols, in a manner that conveys the spatial aspects of the information but does not go much further. Francis Walker's Statistical Atlas of the U.S. Census published in 1874 is far more path breaking in its visualizations and it is odd that Bevan seems to be unaware of it, eight years later. View Atlas
	Map of Western Palestine in 26 Sheets from surveys conducted for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund by Lieutenants C.R. Conder and H.H. Kitchener, R.E. During the Years 1872 - 1877. [Bound with 4 other maps of Palestine], 1880 Conder, C.R. (Claude Reignier); Kitchener, H.R. (Horatio Herbert), London Kitchener's Palestine survey was important because it was so accurate that it is still consulted today as a reliable record of late 19th century Palestine by archaeologists and geographers. This copy is special: it is likely the 3rd issue of the 26 sheet map and was printed by Edward Stanford instead of the Ordnance Survey which produced the first two issues earlier in 1880 and, bound with this copy are four additional maps of Palestine made by Stanford and based on the 26 sheet survey (two of the additional maps are dated 1881 and 1882 respectively, indicating that this bound volume was issued in 1882). View Atlas View 26 Sheet Palestine Map in Google Earth
	Official Map of Chinatown in San Francisco. Prepared under the supervision of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors, July, 1885 Farwell, Willard B.; Kunkler, John E.; Pond, E.B., San Francisco First edition, first issue. Large folding map on two sheets, joined. Printed in colors. In 1885, at the height of the anti-Chinese hysteria in California, the official Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors was issued, reporting on the "Condition of the Chinese Quarter and the Chinese in San Francisco." This inflammatory report included the rare folding color map of Chinatown, but in the usual "small-scale" version (approx. 8½x19½ inches). The same small map was also issued in the San Francisco Municipal Report of 1884-85, and in Farwell's The Chinese at Home and Abroad.. However, the first issue of this map was printed in a supersized version by San Francisco's first "fine press printer," Edward Bosqui, and this is our copy shown here. It was most likely printed for the use of key city officials. The map shows San Francisco's Chinatown, bordered by California, Stockton, Broadway, and Kearney Streets. It is color-coded to show every business, gambling parlor, houses of white and Chinese prostitution, opium "Resorts," joss houses, etc. It was printed on a scale of 40 feet to the inch. The differences in this large-scale copy and the smaller version are the list of Supervisors imprinted thereon, different type fonts for streets, etc, one mistakenly identified house of white prostitution (corrected in the smaller version as a house of Chinese prostitution), and the Bosqui imprint. This large-scale version is exceedingly rare. Only a handful of copies are known, most in institutional libraries. View Map View Map in Google Earth
	B.F. Steven's Facsimile of the Unpublished British Head Quarters Coloured Manuscript map of New York & Environs, 1782, Reproduced from the original drawing in the War Office, London. Issued only to subscribers at 4, Trafalgar Square, W.C., London. 1782 Great Britain. War Office; Stevens, Benjamin Franklin , London From the printed advertisement for the map: "BF STEVENS'S Facsimile of the Unpublished British Headquarters Coloured Manuscript Map of New York and Environs 1782. Reproduced from the Original Drawing in the War Office London. 24 sheets Scale 6 1/2 inches to a mile. 10 feet by 4 feet. The successive British Commanders in Chief in America Generals Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir Guy Carleton during their respective occupations of New York and Environs in the Revolution caused this manuscript plan from time to time to be kept up. The plan extends from below Guanas Bay to the Heights of Spikendevil, a distance of about eighteen or nineteen miles. It shows the Fortifications, Defenses, Topography, Streets, Roads, etc. of the whole of the Island of New York with the Harbor Islands, Water Ways, and River Frontages on the Hudson and East Rivers, the Military Works on Long Island including Brooklyn, the Works in Paulus Hook and parts of the Jersey Shore. It has a copious Table of References to various works British and American, some of them with notes as to the time of their construction or destruction. The Original Drawing, ten feet by four feet, is on a scale of about six and a half inches to a mile. It is handsomely reproduced for subscribers only in careful facsimile on 24 sheets which can be joined up and mounted like the original as a Wall Map or mounted on linen if desired." View Map
	Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas in 139 Haupt- und 161 Nebenkarten nebst vollstandigem alphabetischem Namenverzeichnis. Funfte, vollig neubearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage. Jubilaumsausgabe. Herausgegeben von A. Scobel. Bielefeld Und Leipzig, Verlag Von Velhagen & Klasing, 1906. Andree, Richard; Scobel, Albert, Leipzig Andre's atlas is know for fine engraving and extraordinary detail. He produced the early versions of the Times Atlas until Bartholomew took over in 1922. View Atlas
	The Victoria Regina Atlas, Political, Physical & Astronomical. Containing Two Hundred Plates and Complete Index. Second Edition. W. & A.K. Johnston, Ltd. Established 1825. Edinburgh & London. 1906. W. & A.K. Johnston Limited, Edinburgh, London This atlas is small format but dense with information. Many of the maps are part of larger composites, which we have assembled as such. The regional and city maps are very well done. View Atlas
	Map of Alaska By the Alaska Road Commission. 1909 United States. Alaska Road Commission, Washington D.C. The map is a huge production, much larger than any other general map of Alaska published in this time period. The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, more commonly known as the Alaska Road Commission or ARC, was created in 1905 as a board of the U.S. War Department. It produced this map which shows roads, trails, railroads, telegraph lines, etc. Relief shown by contours. contour interval 1000 feet. At 5ft by 6ft, few maps of this period have as much detail and information. View Map
	Six Panoramic Views of United States National Parks, 1914 - 1915 USGS (U.S. Geological Survey); John H. Renshawe , Washington D.C. Shaded relief without contours. Full color artistic rendering of the parks which is very effective and unusual. Part of a series for the national parks. View Maps
	Official California State Highway System Maps From 1918 - 1990 California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS), Sacramento A reversed chronological assembly (broken run) of 45 official California highway maps bound together with a custom cover. Begins in 1990 and goes back to 1918. Shows the development of the highway system over time. Color. Information included varies by date but includes regional enlargements, illustrations, descriptive text, route descriptions, and construction and funding status. Atlas obtained from the Institute of Transportation Studies Library (Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library) at the University of California, Berkeley View Maps
	California, 1945 Mora, Jo, Monterey Jo Mora has created a delightful and beautiful map of California that is both personal and humorous. Pictorial map with vignettes and text. Mission pictures. Full color. View Map
	Physiographic Diagram, Atlantic Ocean (Sheet 1), 1957 Heezen, Bruce C.; Tharp, Marie An early bathymetric chart of the Atlantic by Heezen and Tharp. View Map
	Alaska: Far North Frontier, 1959 Klengston Rude, Studio City, California. Color pictorial map of Alaska, published the year Alaska officially became the 49th state of the United States of America. Showing rivers, straits, sounds, towns, mountain ranges (drawn in aerial perspective), glaciers (shaded white), and existing and proposed highways. The map is richly illustrated with naturalistic depictions of wildlife, agricultural products, historical landmarks, oil fields and fisheries. Along the left and right sides, six circular illustrations highlight important events in Alaskan history. View Map
	The New Portrait of our Planet. Life, 1960 Time Inc., New York. A Life magazine publication. Hemispheric projection. A striking illustration of the geological and bathymetric theories at the time. View Map
	Six Airline Route Maps, 1960 - 1967 Various Authors, Various Places of Publication.. A group of six large, early airline route maps. Maps have shaded relief. They include illustrations and descriptions of aircraft, sights, cities, landscapes, geology, and aerial views. View Maps
	The Floor of the World Ocean, 1961 Harrison, Richard Edes Modified Briesmeister Elliptical Equal-Area Projection. Map Supplement Number Two, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Volume 51, No.3, September 1961. From the map note: "This map is a visual interpretation of the latest available bathymetric data. In the view of our incomplete knowledge, the drawing incorporates a number of surmises - especially in the inadequately surveyed portions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans." View Map
	Eleven California Freeway and Expressway Maps, 1962 - 1975 California Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, Sacramento. These maps show the development of the freeway and interstate highways in California over a period of 13 years, from 1962 to 1975 when the system grew exponentially. The maps include regional enlargements of San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Maps obtained from the Institute of Transportation Studies Library (Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library) at the University of California, Berkeley. View Maps
	California Water Resources Development, including Development of the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Major Features of the California Water Plan together with Various Projects of Districts and Municipalities, 1963 Irrigation Districts Association of California, San Francisco Oblique view with shaded relief. Text description of water development features. Reflects the expansive dam building attitudes of the period. View Map
	Atlas Ceskoslovenske Socialisticke Republiky. (Atlas of the Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic), 1966 Götz, Antonín; Československá akademie věd.; Czechoslovakia. Ústřední správa geodézie a kartografie A stunning atlas produced in the former Czechoslovakia, showing a great deal of thematic data in excellent cartographic design. In Russian, Czech, and English. View Atlas
	Atlas of Volcanic Phenomena, 1971 U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. Colorful set of 20 posters of volcanic phenomena. "Original material compiled for use by the Smithsonian Institution." View Atlas
	Climatic Atlas of North and Central America. Atlas climatico de America del Norte y America Central. Altas climatique de l'Amerique de Nord et de l'Amerique Centrale. I. Maps of mean temperatures and precipitation ... 1979 World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Hungary Maps show air temperatures by month and by year. Compiled based on international standards. Color. Isohyetal maps. View Atlas

PBS NewsHour Story links Apple, Google, and Historical Maps

2012-11-01T11:07:10-07:00

The October 31, 2012 edition of the PBS NewsHour had a story by Spencer Michels on the competition between Apple and Google map services, and it included an interview with David Rumsey on the "cartographic continuum" between old paper maps and new digital maps.

Here is the story on Apple vs Google maps with excerpts from the Rumsey interview:

And the full interview with David Rumsey from the NewsHour website:

September 23, 2012 - 2,174 New Maps Added

2012-09-15T15:56:47-07:00

2,174 new maps and images have been added to the David Rumsey Map Collection, bringing the online collection to 34,595 maps and images. Highlights in this addition are Arrowsmith's Large Maps of Europe, Africa and Asia, 1796 - 1818, Pardies' Star and Constellation Maps of the Heavens, 1693, the five volume 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime by Bellin, Pownall's 1776 Topographical Description, a huge 1845 manuscript map of the New York and New Haven Railroad, a group of Pocket and Guide Maps from 1822 to 1936, 11 U.S. County Atlases from 1865 to 1908, the manuscript Log Of H.M.S. "Swiftsure" from 1884, and 136 Wall Maps from the University of California Geography Department. All titles may be found by clicking on the View links or images below. Or click here to view all 2,174 new maps and images.

	Large Maps of Europe, Africa and Asia, 1796 - 1818 Arrowsmith, Aaron, London At the beginning of the 19th century, one of the finest map makers was Aaron Arrowsmith of London. His cartographic output numbered over 200 maps and several atlases. His individual maps were often made up of several large sheets, giving them a scale and scope not seen in the productions of his peers. We have collected his American large maps for years and recently added a group of European, African, and Asian maps to the collection. Arrowsmith mapped only what was known, rarely speculating or showing questionable information. His signature was large blank areas on his maps where there was no reliable information, as in his Map of Africa, 1802. He also relentlessly updated his maps as new discoveries were made. View Arrowsmith Large Maps of Europe, Africa and Asia. View All Arrowsmith Large Maps. View Arrowsmith Family Atlases.
	Star and Constellation Maps of the Heavens, 1693 Pardies, Ignace Gaston, Paris Ignace Gaston Pardies created a series of six beautiful star and constellation maps in the late 17th century. All six map plates join together to make a unified view of the Heavens as seen from the Earth. Pardies drew the maps on the gnomonic projection which visualized the universe as a six-sided cube instead of a globe. This method allows for accurate measurement by straight lines between any point on the map. In order to assist users in visualizing various aspects of these star maps, we have georeferenced the maps in GIS and then joined them together, first as a cube, then as a globe, then in other projections, and in Google Earth - see our blog post on Pardies. View Star Maps
	Le Petit Atlas Maritime Recueil De Cartes et Plans Des Quatre Parties Du Monde, 1764 Bellin, Jacques Nicolas, Paris The Petit Atlas Maritime is probably the best compilation of charts and plans of maritime towns and harbors in the mid 18th century, with coverage of North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Its 582 maps in five volumes give a rare and comprehensive view of the maritime world with its coasts, cities, ports, islands, and estuaries. The Petit Atlas Maritime was Bellin's largest and most comprehensive work. The quality of the engraving is superb, and the accuracy of the information shown is excellent, based on all the reports, charts, letters, maps and other narratives that Bellin had access to as the chief chart maker for the French Depot de la Marine in Paris. View Atlas
	A Topographical Description of Such Parts of North America as are Contained in the (Annexed) Map of the Middle British Colonies, 1776 Pownall, Thomas; Evans, Lewis, London This work contains an updated version of Lewis Evans' important 1755 "Map of the Middle British Colonies in North America," using the original plate engraved by James Turner with revisions and adding an eastern extension to cover New England; and Pownall's "Topographical Description" which describes the areas contained in the updated map; and six important appendices of writings by explorers in the region plus parts of Evans' original essay on his 1755 edition of the map. This copy of the Pownall belonged to Thomas Streeter (Streeter 826) and includes a rare 8 page prospectus for publishing the work that was printed in November, 1775. Henry Stevens ties Pownall's work directly to Evans, saying it "may be described as a new and much enlarged edition of both Evans' Map and his Analysis of 1755." Evans is considered "America's greatest eighteenth century cartographer" by Schwartz and Ehrenberg, and Pownall was hugely accomplished in pre-Revolutionary America, serving as Governor General of Massachusetts and traveling widely in the colonies in various roles in the British colonial administration. Pownall's map is considered the best updated edition of the Evans 1755 map, compared to the many later copies of Evans that were issued by Jefferys, Sayer, and others. In the prospectus, Pownall criticizes Jefferys' copy of Evans saying it "might as well be a map of the face of the moon." View Map and Text
	Outlines Of The World. By A. Arrowsmith, Hydrographer to His Majesty. London; Published Jany 4th 1825, by A. & S. Arrowsmith, No. 10, Soho Square, 1825 Arrowsmith, Aaron Jr. , London Arron Arrowsmith senior died in 1823. This atlas was published in 1825 and dedicated to him by his son, Aaron Arrowsmith, Jr. The title page includes the only know portrait of the elder Arrowsmith. The maps are excellent, and are probably the best atlas format maps issued by the Arrowsmith family until the London Atlas of 1838 and 1844 by John Arrowsmith, the nephew of Aaron senior. It is interesting to compare these maps to the large scale maps that Arrowsmith published as wall maps and in composite atlases - many of them appear to be derived from the larger versions. View Atlas
	A Chorographical Map Of The Province Of New-York In North America, Divided into Counties, Manors, Patents and Townships, Exhibiting likewise all the private Grants of Land made and located in that Province; Compiled from Actual Surveys deposited in the Patent Office at New York, 1779 Sauthier, Claude Joseph; Faden, William, London Four southern sheets of the six sheet map. Lacks the two northern sheets and the remaining four sheets are trimmed a few inches on the east and west sides - the owner was not interested in Vermont or Lake Erie! (see our reduced size issue of the complete map, also 1776). Otherwise, this is a superb copy of this extraordinary and rare map - the last and best of the large scale surveys of the American Colonies before the Revolution. Endless interesting detail. View Map
	Map Exhibiting The Experimental and Located Lines for the New-York and New-Haven Rail-Road ... Projected and Drawn by P. Anderson Civil Engr., 1845 Anderson, P., Manuscript This is probably the pre-publication manuscript drawing for the final printed version of this map that was issued in the same year - see our copy of the printed map. It is twice the size and scale of the final printed version, and is beautifully hand drawn and colored. It is amazing that a map this large has survived outside of an institutional library for so long. Apparently it was kept in a family for several generations. It shows the surveyed routes of the New York and New Haven Railroad from New Haven to New York City The line was opened in 1849. The map is unique for a railroad map in its huge size, large scale, elegance of drawing, and variety of information shown (houses, trails, rivers, turnpikes, lighthouses, harbors, hills, swamps, etc.). View Manuscript Map View Manuscript and Printed Map
	147 Maps and Images from Pocket Maps and Guides, 1822 - 1936 Various Authors, Various Places Continuing our digitizing of Pocket Maps and Guides, this group of maps covers a wide range of places, time periods and styles. Included is Eddy's 1839 Map of the Country 30 Miles round the City of New York (pictured left), an early Railroad Map of the United States from 1860, a strip Map of the Hudson River, 1848, an early oil region map - Map of the Oil District of Pennsylvania, 1865, mineral deposits shown on Holt's California and Newvada Map 1873, a detailed map of Mount Desert Island and coastal Maine, 1890. a Radio Map of the United States 1925, and a stunning 20th century Bird's Eye View of California from 1936. View All Pocket Maps and Guides
	A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics Of The World. With a special map of each of the United States, Plans of Cities &c. Comprehended in seventy sheets and forming a series of One Hundred And Seventeen Maps, Plans And Sections ..., 1849 Mitchell, Samuel Augustus, Philadelphia Continuing our plan to have every issue of Mitchell's New Universal Atlas from 1846 to 1859 online, this copy is the 1849 issue. The Oregon and Upper California map is enlarged to include all of New Mexico and New Mexico is added to the title. This is the last edition published by Mitchell, all later editions published by Thomas, Cowperthwait and Co. and Charles Desilver. View Atlas View All Online Mitchell Universal Atlases - 1846, 1848, 1849, 1853, 1855, 1859
	An Atlas of the World, Comprehending Separate Maps of its various Countries, Constructed & drawn from the latest Astronomical & Geographical Observations, 1864 Wyld, James, London. A late edition of this atlas, published as early as 1836, and a successor to his father's (James Wyld, 1790-1836) 1824 General Atlas (see our copy). Several new maps of Australia and South Africa are added and the other maps have been updated to show railroad development. The American maps have been updated, but inadequately so in the West - the River Buenaventura is still flowing out of Salt Lake on the Mexico Map! View Atlas
	Map Of The Region Adjacent To The Bay Of San Francisco. State Geological Survey Of California, J.D. Whitney, State Geologist. The Coast, Rancho, Township and Section Lines from Materials furnished by the U.S. Coast Survey and the U.S. Surveyor General's Office, the Topography chiefly from Original Surveys by C.F. Hoffman, 1867 Hoffmann, Charles F.; Whitney, J.D.; Geological Survey of California, New York This map is one of the earliest large scale maps of the entire San Francisco Bay area, made by the surveyors of the Geological Survey of California, under the direction of J.D. Whitney. It is the first edition of this map, and is interesting to compare to our second edition of 1873 to see changes in the rapidly growing settlements, roads, boundaries and newly documented features of the landscape. Both editions were printed in New York City by the expert lithographic printer Julius Bien. This first edition copy was mounted as a wall map. It was used in c. 1887 court case for which a "Lewis Survey" of part of Las Positas Rancho was outlined in red (this is present on the map but faint in lettering and outline). View Map
	11 U.S. County Atlases, 1865 - 1908 Various Authors, Various Places Continuing our scanning of representative U.S. County Atlases from the 19th century, this group of 11 includes St. Lawrence County-New York, Saratoga County-New York, Strafford County-New Hampshire, Ogle County-Illinois, Portage County-Ohio, Beaver County-Pennsylvania, Warren County-Pennsylvania, Winnebago and Boone Counties-Illinois, Marion and Monongalia Counties-West Virginia, Gibson County-Indiana, and Rush County-Indiana. These atlases have county and city maps, views of towns, farms, and industries, portraits and biographies of county leaders, and historical entries. View All County Atlases
	Centennial Map Of The United States and Territories Showing the Extent of Public Surveys, Indian and Military Reservations...& Other Details, 1878 U.S. General Land Office, Washington 16 sheets plus index sheet. 2nd ed.(1876 1st ed). At head of title: 1876. Not listed in Wheat or most other references. Related to the Centennial Atlas of the United States published in 1876, although those maps were on a somewhat larger scale (1"=12 to 20 miles, vs 1"=20 miles for this). When joined, these sheets would make a map 8 feet tall by 12 feet wide. View Map
	Joint Maps Of The Northern Boundary Of The United States, From The Lake Of The Woods To The Summit Of The Rocky Mountains, 1878 U.S. Northern Boundary Commission; Campbell, A., Washington To accompany Campbell's Report on the Boundary. Originally issued in unbound folio. the boundary between the United States and Canada was set by the Oregon Treaty of 1846 but the surveying of the boundary was interrupted by the Civil War and not completed until 1875. These maps are highly detailed and show many cultural features along the boundary. The lithographic work is excellent. View Maps
	Log Of H.M.S. "Swiftsure" Bearing the (flag of) Rear Admiral H.M.L. Lyons commanded by Captain C. Mainwaring. C.F. Henderson, 1884 Mainwaring, C.; Henderson, C.F., Manuscript This is a manuscript ship's log that begins to record a journey midway from Honolulu to Esquimalt in British Columbia, then down the west coast of the United States and the west coast of South America, around Cape Horn, and back to England. It begins in July, 1884 and ends in November, 1885. 16 beautifully drawn charts record the track of the steam and sail powered ship, showing stops in San Francisco, Mazatlan, San Blas, Valparaiso and Rio de Janeiro and other ports. Many drawings illustrate aspects of the ship and its equipment. The log itself records the weather and daily ship operations. An unusual highly illustrated document. Swiftsure is the name assigned to ten successive ships of the Royal (British) Navy, the first launched in 1573 and the most recent in 1971. This one was commissioned in 1871 and was the lead ship of the Swiftsure class battleships built in the late Victorian era. It operated under steam and sail and was ironclad. It was very fast for its time, 13.75 knots. It served as the Pacific Station flagship from 1882-1885 and 1888-1890. Renamed "Orontes" in 1901, she was scrapped in 1908. View Log Book
	Pocket Mining Atlas. Compiled From The Latest Official Surveys, And The Most Authentic Sources. Engineering and Mining Journal, 1880 Bolitho, Edwin, New York. Scarce. 24 of the 27 maps are western mining maps. A miniature mining atlas with many western maps. Not in any of the standard collections or references. There are maps of western states and detailed maps of mining areas showing claims. All of the detailed claim maps (except Dahlonega District in Georgia) appear on the verso of the state maps in Bradstreet's Pocket Atlas of 1882 (see our copy). At the end of the atlas there is a note by the publisher stating that any of the maps can be supplied for any use (We assume that Bradstreet made use of this offer) and that additional maps will be provided in "the forthcoming edition." Was there another, expanded edition? Atlas is bound into burgandy leather covers with "Pocket Mining Atlas." stamped in gilt. View Atlas
	34 Historic Topographic Maps of the Sierra Nevada by the United States Geological Survey, 1891 - 1951 USGS (U.S. Geological Survey). Washington, D.C. These 34 maps show changes in parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains over a 60 year period. Included are maps of Yosemite, Big Trees, Dardanelles, Mt. Whitney, Bridgeport, Sonora, Mt. Lyell, Hawthorne, and Mariposa. All the maps are at a scale of 1:125,000 so the detail is excellent. View USGS Maps
	136 Wall Maps from the Collection of the University of California, Berkeley, Geography Department, 1900 - 2005 Various Publishers, Various Places We recently entered into an agreement with the Geography Department at UC Berkeley to acquire over 600 of their 20th century wall maps of all parts of the world that are no longer used in teaching. In addition to digitizing those 600 maps, we agreed to digitize and put online a separate group of 156 wall maps retained by the Geography Departments that are still used in teaching - so that UC teachers and students could use the digitized maps in their presentations, lectures, and studies. And to be used and enjoyed by the general Internet public. The maps show the whole range of cartographic conventions used in the last 100 years. We have completed 136 of the 156 maps retained by UC and put them online now (we will complete the remaining 20 maps in that group plus the 600 we acquired in our next update). Highlights include the 1976 Floor of the Oceans by Tharp and Heezen, 1942 Rand McNally World Map for the Air Age, 1985 Bedrock Geology of the World by R.L. Larson, 1960 North and South Poles by Karl Wenschow, 1968 Mapa de Chile by the Institute Geografico Militar de Chile (pictured on left), 1979 Relief Map of California (a strange mash-up of a photograph of a plaster model of the state), 1966 Rio Grange Do Sul of Brazil by the Instituto Gaucho de Reforma Agraria, the stunning relief Map of Asia by Klett-Perthes, and the beautiful U.S. State Relief Maps by Allan Cartography. Because some of these maps are still being actively printed and sold by the publishers, we allow viewing only for those maps and give links to the websites where more recent versions of the maps are available. View All Wall Maps

Joshua Jelly-Shapiro on the Revolution in Cartography

2012-08-24T16:37:58-07:00

The September 2012 issue of Harper's Magazine has a very interesting article by Joshua Jelly-Shapiro titled "All Over The Map - A Revolution in Cartography." Jelly-Shapiro reviews two recent books, "Maphead" by Ken Jennings and "Infinite City" by Rebecca Solnit. He also discusses the David Rumsey Map Collection along with technological innovations that are revolutionizing cartography and our understanding of space and place.

Mapping the Heavens in 1693

2012-08-17T15:24:09-07:00

Ignace Gaston Pardies created a series of six beautiful star and constellation maps in the late 17th century. All six map plates join together to make a unified view of the Heavens as seen from the Earth. Pardies, a French Jesuit and professor of mathematics in Paris, corresponded with leading scientists of his day, including Newton, Leibniz and Huygens. His background in classical literature and science is evident in the complex artistry and mathematical precision of the six star maps. Pardies' use of a geocentric cartographic view of the stars was unusual for the time - most star charts and celestial globes used the God's eye perspective - looking at the entire universe from outside it. Our Cassini 1792 Celestial Globe is an example of the God's eye view - an earth-bound user had to imagine seeing the drawn constellations in the actual sky in reverse. With Pardies' maps we see the sky as it appears from earth. Pardies drew the maps on the gnomonic projection which visualized the universe as a six-sided cube instead of a globe. This method allows for accurate measurement by straight lines between any point on the map. He also showed the paths of many important comets from 1577 to 1682 moving through the constellations. In order to assist users in visualizing various aspects of these star maps, we have georeferenced the maps in GIS and then joined them together, first as a cube, then as a globe, then in other projections, and in Google Earth, and those visualizations are shown below.

Pardies' stunning artistry can be seen in the second of the six plates, with the constellations Cetus, Aquarius, Andromeda, Pegasus and Aries:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Star Map Plate 2: Cetus, Aquarius, Andromeda. etc, Paris, 1693

Here is the full image of Plate 2 with Latin text on the left side and French text on the right side:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plate 2: Cetus, Aquarius, Andromeda. etc, Paris, 1693

A detail of Plate 2 shows the head of Cetus and the tracks of two comets:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Detail of Plate 2: Cetus, Aquarius, Andromeda. etc, Paris, 1693

When Pardies' plates where published separately as an atlas, it was titled in Latin "Globi coelestis in tabulas planas redacti descriptio auctore R.P. Ignatio Gastone Pardies Societatis Jesu mathematico opus postumum." Below are all six plates, showing the explanatory text and tables on the sides of the star maps in Latin and French. First the two polar or "top and bottom" plates:

Plate 1 (North Pole)

Plate 6 (South Pole)

Then the four middle latitude or "side" plates in the order they are joined:

Plate 2 (Vernal Equinox)

Plate 5 (Winter Solstice)

Plate 4 (Autumnal Equinox)

Plate 3 (Summer Solstice)

The Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology in Kansas City, Missouri, has a notable collection of Pardies' atlases and plates and commented on his work in one of their exhibition catalogs: "Pardies' star atlas is stylistically one of the most attractive ever published. Pardies took his constellation figures primarily from Bayer's Uranometria, but since each chart covers a large section of the sky, these figures had to be carefully integrated, which was not an easy task. Pardies' engraver accomplished this task with great success.... The plate [which] shows Hercules, Ophiuchus, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Aquila, and Lyra...is one of the most stunning compositions in the history of celestial cartography." Below is that Plate 5:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plate 5: Hercules, Ophiuchus] Scorpius, Sagittarius, Aquila, and Lyra, Paris, 1693

The six Pardies plates can be trimmed and laid out as the six sides of a cube:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, (Composite of) Plates 1 - 6 on Cubic Projection - arranged as published. Paris, 1693

When the six sides are joined as a cube, they look like this (Plates 1, 2, and 5 visible):

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 1-6 Joined as a Cube, Paris, 1693

Rotating the cube (Plates 1, 4, and 3 visible):

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 1-6 Joined as a Cube, Paris, 1693

Instead of visualizing the map plates as a cube, we can still keep the gnomonic projection but show it differently in GIS, here centered on Plate 5, but showing the parts of the four plates that adjoin Plate 5 (the gnomonic projection in GIS limits our view to about 130 degrees to avoid extreme distortion at the edges):

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plate 5 Projected in GIS on the Gnomonic Projection, Paris, 1693

All six plates in the same gnomonic projection in GIS:

Plate 1 (North Pole)	Plate 2 (Vernal Equinox)	Plate 3 (Summer Solstice)
Plate 4 (Autumnal Equinox)	Plate 5 (Winter Solstice)	Plate 6 (South Pole)

In GIS, the same plates can be reprojected in orthographic projection, which allows us to see a full 180 degrees around each plate. Below is polar Plate 1 and its four adjoining plates in orthographic projection:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plate 1 Projected in GIS on the Orthographic Projection, Paris, 1693

All six plates in the orthographic projection in GIS:

Plate 1 (North Pole)	Plate 2 (Vernal Equinox)	Plate 3 (Summer Solstice)
Plate 4 (Autumnal Equinox)	Plate 5 (Winter Solstice)	Plate 6 (South Pole)

For a novel projection, we can use the Berghaus star projection, here centered on the North Pole. This projection allows us to see five full plates (Plates 1-5) in one projected map:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 1-5 Joined in a Berghaus Star Projection (North Pole Centered), Paris, 1693

And here centered on the South Pole (Plates 2-6):

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 2-6 Joined in a Berghaus Star Projection (South Pole Centered), Paris, 1693

We have used the geographic projection in order to put the plates in Google Earth. This projection distorts the northern and southern parts of the sky but allows us to see the entire group of six plates in one map:

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 1-6 Joined in a Geographic Projection, Paris, 1693

When the geographic projection map of the six plates is placed in Google Earth, it loses any distortions and gives us a complete joined view of Pardies map of the Heavens. View in Google Earth browser below (requires plug-in, turn off Borders) or in the Google Earth application (New Maps section, Celestial Globe 1693, turn off Atmosphere in View).

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 1-6 Joined in a Geographic Projection and placed in Google Earth

We can turn the Google Earth globe view inside out and float it 64 million meters outside the earth so that the Pardies star maps appear as we would see them in the sky. We use a mirror image of the geographic projection so that all the positions and labels of the stars and constellations are correct (rotate the earth in order to move through the sky). View in Google Earth browser below (requires plug-in) or in the Google Earth application (New Maps section, Celestial Sphere 1693, turn off Atmosphere in View).

Ignace Gaston Pardies, Plates 1-6 Joined in a Geographic Projection and placed outside earth in Google Earth

Below is a short video of moving through the six joined Pardies plates as a globe in Google Earth:

And another video of moving through the six joined Pardies plates 64 million meters outside of the earth, much as they would be seen in the sky by earth-bound viewers:

Unfortunately, Pardies did not live to see his amazing star maps published - he died in 1673 and the first edition of his atlas of six plates was published posthumously in 1674. A second edition was published in 1693 (our copy shown here), and a third edition in 1700. But the usefulness of his work continued long after his death and his star maps took on a life of their own. Deborah Warner ("The Sky Explored") states: "The published reports of their observations indicate that Jesuit astronomers throughout the world relied heavily on Pardies' maps for obtaining coordinates of both old stars and newly discovered ones. Furthermore, while using the maps they improved them by adding new stars and correcting the positions of old ones; many of these revisions were incorporated into the second edition. Pardies' maps served as a model for the gnomonic maps of Jonas Moore, Doppelmeyer, Kordenbusch, and, in the nineteenth century, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and for Grimaldi's maps of the Chinese constellations."

We can appreciate and admire Pardies genius today, over 300 years later, because a few copies of his work still survive. Putting images of them online now allows many more people to enjoy his unique mapping of the Heavens long ago.

Stanford Gives Howell Award to David Rumsey

2012-07-09T16:44:58-07:00

On May 18, 2012, David Rumsey received the Warren R. Howell Award from the Stanford University Libraries in recognition of his service to Stanford. Fine press printer Peter Koch designed a commemorative booklet for the occasion:

June 24, 2012 - 1,828 New Maps Added

2012-06-23T17:52:53-07:00

1,828 new maps and images have been added to the David Rumsey Map Collection, bringing the online collection to 32,413 maps and images. Included in this addition are early Yosemite guide books; the Allgemeiner Schulatlas, 1825, a remarkable German school atlas; 216 Maps and Images from Pocket Maps, 1825 - 1920; 12 U.S. County Atlases, 1864 - 1890; The Times Atlas of the World Mid-Century Edition, 1959; Atlas of the United States Printed for the Use of the Blind, 1837; 30 U.S. Civil War maps from Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amerique, 1883; Adams' Synchronological Chart of Universal History, 1881; and 140 Separate, Broadside, Real Estate, and Manuscript Maps, 1776 - 1944. All titles may be found by clicking on the View links or images below. Or click here to view all 1,826 new maps and images.

	Maps and Photographs from the Yosemite Guide Books, 1868 - 1874 Geological Survey of California, New York, Cambridge. 6 different editions of the first guide books of Yosemite Valley, including the first edition of 1868 with 24 original photographs by Carlton Watkins (later this year we will be adding a book reader of the entire 1868 Yosemite Guide Book). The guide books were the result of a government survey of Yosemite begun in 1863 under the direction of Josiah Dwight Whitney, the State Geologist, with Clarence King and James T. Gardner in the surveying party, and Carleton Watkins as the primary photographer. Charles Hoffman and William Brewer were other key team members. Josiah Dwight Whitney’s and the California Geological Survey’s Yosemite guide books were an early effort to domesticate the Sierra, to make the range accessible through scientific knowledge and reliable travel information. View Yosemite Guide Books
	Allgemeiner Schulatlas, 1825 Ruhle von Lilienstern, August, Berlin Remarkable for "the most fantasy-rich title page to be found in any German atlas" (Espenhorst). This atlas was "expressly designed for use in the schools" and was ahead of its time in depicting hydrography and topography without place names and cultural or political features. The author's motivation was to use an effective presentation style for surface terrain. The rendering of relief was particularly innovative and precedent setting. This is also one of the earliest lithographic atlases. View Atlas
	216 Maps and Images from Pocket Maps, 1825 - 1920 Various Authors, Various Places 95 years of pocket maps covering state maps, country maps, county maps, city maps, a cemetery map, U.S. civil war maps, oil district maps, gold mine maps, historical events maps, and an extraordinary map of Niagara Falls. View Pocket Maps
	12 U.S. County Atlases, 1864 - 1890 Various Authors, Various Places Continuing our scanning of representative U.S. County Atlases from the 19th century, this group of 12 includes Jefferson County, New York, Montgomery and Fulton Counties, New York, Rutland County, Vermont, Cumberland County, Maine, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Schuyler County, New York, Wayne County, Indiana, LaPorte County, Indiana, Montgomery County, Illinois, Yates County, New York, Auglaize County, Ohio, and Columbia County, Wisconsin. These atlases have county and city maps, views of towns, farms, and industries, portraits and biographies of county leaders, and historical entries. View All Atlases
	The Times Atlas of the World. Mid-Century Edition, 1959 Bartholomew, John , Boston and London Published in 5 volumes, 1955-1959, with 122 colored double page map sheets, and a comprehensive index of over 200,000 names. Because of the long production times involved in the work of compiling the detailed maps, the volumes were arranged in continental groupings with volume III, North Europe, coming out first, followed by another volume each year. V.1. The World, Australasia & East Asia --V.2. South-West Asia & Russia --V.3. Northern Europe --V.4. Southern Europe & Africa --V.5. The Americas. with an Index-Gazetteer. We have created 18 composite maps from maps of continents and countries at the same large scale - they offer far more detail than the original maps of similar coverage and smaller scale in the atlas. View Atlas
	Atlas of the United States Printed for the Use of the Blind, 1837 Howe, Samuel Gridley; Ruggles, Samuel P., Boston The Atlas of the United States Printed for the Use of the Blind was published in 1837 for children at the New England Institute for the Education of the Blind in Boston. Without a drop of ink in the book, the text and maps in this extraordinary atlas were embossed heavy paper with letters, lines, and symbols. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first atlas produced for the blind to read without the assistance of a sighted person. Braille was invented by 1825, but was not widely used until later. The atlas includes 24 state maps with a page of text describing each state and the symbols used on the maps. In our scans, we have lit the maps and text pages from one side to create shadows that reveal the embossing. View Atlas Read our blog post on this atlas
	Maps of U.S. States and Territories, 1876 - 1944 U.S.. General Land Office, Washington, D.C. 24 maps from the U.S. General Land Office show official surveys of states and territories in the U.S. west. Military forts, Indian Reservations, railroad development, early county formations are all shown. 10 maps show Arizona Territory from 1896 to 1910. View Maps
	The Peoples' Pictorial Atlas. Being A Complete And Popular Account Of All The Countries Of The World, In Their Geographical, Statistical, Topographical And Commercial Aspects, 1873 Jones, C.H.; Hamilton, T.H.; Williams, J.David, New York Maps by Rogers and Johnston, and Weller. This atlas is similar to the Hardesty edition of 1875, but on thinner paper. J. David Williams is sometimes considered to be the author, but Phillips lists this under Jones and Hamilton. The North American maps, with the exception of the New England states and New York and Pennsylvania, are updated reissues of the maps used in Rogers and Johnston 1857 Atlas of the United States, although they are often configured in different groups, indicating that they were copied from the 1869 third edition of the Rogers and Johnston U.S. wall map that is from the same earlier plates, but updated, that the 1857 atlas was made from (see our #5402). With 7 pages of interesting views. View Atlas
	A General Atlas, Containing Maps illustrating some important periods in Ancient History; and distinct Maps of the several Empires, Kingdoms and States In The World, From Original Drawings according to the latest Treaties, 1824 Wyld, James, 1790-1836; Thomson, John, Edinburgh This is the second edition and includes the extra map of the Arctic and two extra maps of Australia. The text adds a section on Voyages of Discovery. Two additional maps are laid in, one of South America, the other of Mexico. View Atlas
	A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics Of The World. With a special map of each of the United States, Plans of Cities &c. Comprehended in seventy five sheets and forming a series of One Hundred And Twenty Two Maps, Plans And Sections, 1853 Mitchell, Samuel Augustus, Philadelphia Continuing our plan to have every issue of Mitchell's New Universal Atlas from 1846 to 1859 online, this copy is the 1853 issue. We also have online the 1846, 1848, 1855, and 1859 issues. Title page has a full color illustration of the First Landing of Columbus in the New World. California map now shows counties throughout. Bound in half leather marbled paper covered boards with label stamped in gold reading "Mitchell's Universal Atlas." View 1853 Atlas View All Mitchell Universal Atlases
	(Six Ethnographic Maps to Accompany the Natural History of Man). Second Edition, 1867 Prichard, James Cowles, London The six ethnographic maps to accompany Prichard's Natural History of Man were published separately and at different dates from the text volumes. The maps are: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, and Polynesia. Each map is titled "Ethnographic Map of (Continent) In the Earliest Times Illustrative of Dr. Prichard's Natural History of Man and His Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. Second Edition, 1861." Sheets loose. View Maps
	Mitchell's New Atlas Of The United States And Territories, Together With Plans Of The Principal Cities. Designed To Accompany And Illustrate The Centennial Gazetteer Of The United States, 1874 Mitchell, S. Augustus, Ziegler & McCurdy, Philadelphia The special "propeller" border Mitchell Atlas - all the maps have this unique border not found in any other Mitchell Atlases. The title says this atlas was "Designed To Accompany And Illustrate The Centennial Gazetteer Of The United States," also published, we assume, by Ziegler & McCurdy, although we can find no reference to it. The maps in the atlas are sometimes unique issues, different from the maps found in the Mitchell General Atlas of either 1874, 1875, or 1873. Only maps of the United States are included, except for three World maps. View Atlas
	(Atlas volume only to accompany the) Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amerique par M. Le Comte de Paris, Ancien Aide de Camp du General Mac Clellan, 1883 Various Publishers, Various Places These 30 maps were made by Vorzet to accompany Louis Phillipe d'Orleans' (Comte de Paris) multivolume "Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amérique". The set includes two (of three) of the original fascicle covers (this was issued in parts, and often bound later). The first fascicle was from 1874. The fascicles were issued to accompany vols. 1-2, 3-4. and 5-6 respectively of the "Histoire." The Comte de Paris was a pretender to the throne of France, and expatriate, working as an aide-de-camp to the Union Gen. George MacClellan (McClellan). He eventually settled in England. Pub Date is the latest date of the maps published over time for this series. Looseleaf in two (of the original three) paper light green fascicles. Maps are color; chromolithographs. The atlas was provided for digitization by Joel Kovarsky, and has since been donated to the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia. View Atlas
	Adams' Synchronological Chart of Universal History. Through the Eye to the Mind. A Chronological chart of Ancient, Modern and Biblical History, Synchronized by Sebastian C. Adams. Third Edition and Twelfth-Thousand carefully and critically revised and brought down to 1878, (1881) Adams, Sebastian C., New York A huge and impressive twenty three foot long chart showing 5,885 years of history, from 4004 B.C.. to 1881 A.D. First issued in 1871, Adams put out several editions in many formats. Rosenberg and Grafton in "Cartographies of Time" say that as a timeline, Adams Synchronological Chart "was ninetheenth-century America's surpassing achievement in complexity and synthetic power. View Timeline Read our blog post on this and many other timeline maps.
	Uebersichts-Karte der Eisenbahnen Deutschlands bearbeitet im Reichs-Eisenbahn-Amt. 1893 Deutschland. Reichs-Eisenbahn-Amt, Berlin Color railway map of German Empire. With six inset maps. Shows railroads, roads, rivers, sea, etc. Map is backed and folded into textured dark green cloth cover, with "Uebersichts-Karte der Eisenbahnen Deutschlands bearbeitet im Reichs-Eisenbahn-Amt . 1893. Massstab 1:1000000. Verlag von Max Pasch, Kgl. Hofbuchh. Berlin SW., Ritter-Strasse No. 50." stamped in gilt. View Map This map relates to our Karte des Deutschen Reiches, 1893
	140 Separate, Broadside, Real Estate, and Manuscript Maps, 1776 - 1944 Various Authors, Various Places An eclectic group of maps including maps of the California Gold Rush, San Francisco, parts of Madison's rare map of Virginia 1807/1818, various real estate maps, Sauthier's 1776 Map of the Province of New York, and early Massachusetts town maps. View All 140 Maps

Atlas for The Blind 1837

2012-05-20T14:29:24-07:00

The Atlas of the United States Printed for the Use of the Blind was published in 1837 for children at the New England Institute for the Education of the Blind in Boston. Without a drop of ink in the book, the text and maps in this extraordinary atlas were embossed heavy paper with letters, lines, and symbols. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first atlas produced for the blind to read without the assistance of a sighted person. Braille was invented by 1825, but was not widely used until later. It represented letters well, but could not represent shapes and cartographic features. Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876) was the founder and president of the New England Institute (later known as the Perkins Institute) and produced the atlas with the assistance of John C. Cray and Samuel P. Ruggles. Howe was the husband of Julia Ward Howe, the American abolitionist and author of the U.S. Civil War song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." He was a champion of people with disabilities and believed that blind youth could be taught geography through maps created with his special paper embossing process. In his introduction to the atlas Howe notes that crude attempts had been made to create maps for the blind, but they used primitive methods of creating relief and required the assistance of a sighted person. He claimed that his new embossing method was superior in all respects. Today, it is difficult to know how successful the atlas was, although there can be little doubt that these maps helped Howe's blind students visualize geography. We do know that 50 copies were made and five survive today, including this one. The atlas includes 24 state maps with a page of text describing each state and the symbols used on the maps. In our scans, we have lit the maps and text pages from one side to create shadows that reveal the embossing.

Below is the first map in the atlas, of Maine, with dotted lines showing the border with Canada and New Hampshire. Numbers and letters indicate towns, rivers and lakes, and numbers 6 through 9 and 44 through 47 show longitude from Washington D.C. and latitude. The map shows a scale of 50 miles. All of this and more is explained in the text page for Maine.

(Map of Maine), S.G. Howe , 1837

The text page titled "map of maine, explanation" that follows the Maine map:

Map of Maine. Explanation, S.G. Howe, 1837

This enlarged view of the Vermont map shows the various symbols used as well as the impressions of the underlying blocks used in the embossing method. Mountains are shown as a series of short lines in this detail of the Green Mountains:

Detail from (Map of Vermont), S.G. Howe, 1837

The map of Florida:

Map of Florida, S.G. Howe, 1837

The map of Michigan:

(Map of Michigan), S.G. Howe, 1837

This enlargement of the map of the District of Columbia shows Washington (w.city), Georgetown (g), and Alexandria (a) as well as the President's house (p) and the Capital (c).

Map of the District of Columbia, S.G. Howe, 1837

The title page to the atlas:

(Title Page) Atlas of the United States Printed for the use of the Blind, S.G. Howe, 1837

The first page of the introduction to the atlas, explaining the plan:

(Introduction page 1 Atlas of the United States), S.G. Howe, 1837

The second page of the introduction to the atlas:

(Introduction page 2 Atlas of the United States), S.G. Howe, 1837

The covers of the atlas:

(Covers of the Atlas of the United States), S.G. Howe, 1837

Even the title label on the spine of the atlas covers is raised and embossed saying "Atlas of The United States":

Detail of Spine Label, Atlas of the United States, S.G. Howe, 1837

Howe wrote about the success of his method of raised relief to teach geography to blind children: "They soon understood that sheets of stiff pasteboard, marked by certain crooked lines, represented the boundaries of countries; rough raised dots represented mountains; pin heads sticking out here and there, showed the locations of towns; or, on a smaller scale, the boundaries of their own town, the location of the meeting-house, of their own and of the neighboring houses, and the like; and they were delighted and eager to go on with tireless curiosity. And they did go on until they matured in years, and became themselves teachers, first in our school, afterwards in a private school opened by themselves in their own town."

Eventually Braille proved more effective than Howe's method of embossed letters, but his maps remain today as wonderful examples of teaching the basic elements of geography and spatial relationships to blind students, enabling them to create the idea of maps as visualizations in their memories. And the Perkins Institute he led continues to teach blind students today, comprising a long and successful record of blind education, including the teaching of Helen Keller.

View the entire atlas.

Timeline Maps

2012-03-23T11:41:27-07:00

Mapping time has long been an interest of cartographers. Visualizing historical events in a timeline or chart or diagram is an effective way to show the rise and fall of empires and states, religious history, and important human and natural occurrences. We have over 100 examples in the Rumsey Map Collection, ranging in date from 1770 to 1967. We highlight a few below.

Sebastian Adams' 1881 Synchronological Chart of Universal History is 23 feet long and shows 5,885 years of history, from 4004 B.C. to 1881 A.D. It is the longest timeline we have seen. The recently published Cartographies of Time calls it "nineteenth-century America's surpassing achievement in complexity and synthetic power." In the key to the map, Adams states that timeline maps enable learning and comprehension "through the eye to the mind."

Below is a close up detail of a very small part of the chart: (click on the title or the image to open up the full chart)

Detail of Sebastian Adams, Synchronological Chart of Universal History, 1881 (click to open full chart)

Another detail covering a larger area with the chart turned sideways:

Detail of Sebastian Adams, Synchronological Chart of Universal History, 1881 (click to open full chart)

Eugene Pick published the Tableau de L'Histoire Universelle in 1858 in two sheets, one for the Eastern Hemisphere (shown here) and one for the Western Hemisphere. The chart shows history from 4004 B.C. to 1856. Like many timelines in this style, it is based on the 1804 Strom der Zeiten (Stream of Time) by Friedrich Strass of Austria. Part of Pick's chart is shown below:

Eugene Pick, Tableau De L'Histoire Universelle (Eastern Hemisphere), 1856

Close up detail of Pick's chart:

Detail of Eugene Pick, Tableau De L'Histoire Universelle (Eastern Hemisphere), 1856

Another timeline chart based on the Strass chart was Joseph Colton's 1842 Chart of Universal History. This is one of the earliest examples we have seen of the complete Strauss model published in the United States (though earlier partial versions or derivations of the form appeared in the U.S.) The explanation at the bottom of the chart states "Each Nation is represented by a stream which is broken in upon or flows on undisturbed as it is influenced by the accession of Territory or the remaining at Peace."

Joseph Colton, Chart of Universal History, 1842

Detail of Colton's chart:

Detail of Joseph Colton, Chart of Universal History, 1842

Emma Willard's 1836 "Picture of nations or perspective sketch of the course of empire" uses innovative perspective to add a time dimension to her chart which is otherwise similar to the Strass-Colton-Pick models. It appears in her "Atlas to Accompany a System of Universal History."

Emma Willard, Picture of nations or perspective sketch of the course of empire, 1836

Willard timeline detail:

Detail of Emma Willard, Picture of nations or perspective sketch of the course of empire, 1836

Emma Willard uses another form of timeline in her 1824 "Progress Of The Roman Empire, Illustrated By The course Of The River Amazon." Here she shows the actual course of the Amazon as a timeline showing the history of the Roman Empire. The chart appeared in her 1824 "Ancient Geography, As Connected With Chronology, And Preparatory to the Study of Ancient History."

Emma Willard, Progress Of The Roman Empire, Illustrated By The course Of The River Amazon, 1824

Rand McNally published amateur historian John B. Spark's "The Histomap. Four Thousand Years Of World History" in 1931. This popular chart went through many editions. On the cover, Sparks states: "Clear, vivid and shorn of elaboration, Histomap holds you enthralled as you follow the curves of power down time's endless course. Here is the actual picture of the march of civilization from the mud huts of the ancients thru the monarchistic glamour of the middle ages to the living panorama of life in present day America."

Rand McNally and John B. Sparks, The Histomap. Four Thousand Years Of World History, 1931

Francis Walker's 1874 "Statistical Atlas of the United States" contains many maps and diagrams that show data from the 1870 U.S. Census arrayed in timelines. The chart below, with the title "Fiscal chart of the United States showing the course of the public debt by years 1789 to 1870 together with the proportion of the total receipts from each principal source of revenue and the proportion of total expenditures for each principal department of the public service," shows 80 years of financial data arranged by time:

Francis Walker, Fiscal chart of the United States showing the course of the public debt by years 1789 to 1870

In 1878 O.W. Gray published "Chart Exhibiting the Relative Rank of the States for Nine Decades (1790-1870)." This is another kind of timeline that shows changing rank relationships between the U.S. states over time:

O.W. Gray, Chart Exhibiting the Relative Rank of the States for Nine Decades (1790-1870), 1878

The chart below appeared in Henry Gannett's "Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon results of the Eleventh Census (1890)." Titled "Growth of the elements of the population: 1790 to 1890. (with) Proportion of aliens to foreign born males 21 years of age and over 1890," it is based on the Eleventh Census (1890) of the United States. It combines perspective, three dimensional views, map and timeline together.

Henry Gannett, Growth of the elements of the population: 1790 to 1890, 1898

The "Chronological Chart of North American History" appeared in Colton and Fisher's "Illustrated Cabinet Atlas and Descriptive Geography" of 1859. The chart uses color coding to arrange important historical events by time and geography.

Colton and Fisher, Chronological Chart of North American History, 1859

Edward Quin published "An Historical Atlas; In a Series of Maps of the World as Known at Different Periods" in 1830. Rather than a strict timeline, Quin creates an entirely unique kind of time map series by using 21 maps that show progressively receding cloud borders to indicate the expansion of geographical knowledge over time. Below are 4 of the 21 maps.

The first map in the series is B.C. 2348. The Deluge:

Edward Quin, B.C. 2348. The Deluge, 1830

The third is B.C. 753. The Foundation Of Rome:

Edward Quin, B.C. 753. The Foundation Of Rome, 1830

The eighth is A.D. 1. The Roman Empire In The Augustan Age:

Edward Quin, A.D. 1. The Roman Empire In The Augustan Age, 1830

And the sixteenth is A.D. 1498. The Discovery Of America:

Edward Quin, A.D. 1498. The Discovery Of America, 1830

These two time diagrams show time in several locations relative to the time of noon at Washington, D.C. A.J. Johnson published the diagram below with the title "A Diagram Exhibiting the difference of time between the places shown & Washington." It appeared as the last page in his "New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas" of 1860.

A.J. Johnson, A Diagram Exhibiting the differences of time between the places shown & Washington, D.C., 1860

Mitchell's "A time table indicating the difference in time between the principal cities of the World and also showing their air-line distance from Washington" is similar with a slight change in style.

S.A. Mitchell, A time table indicating the difference in time between the principal cities of the World, 1870

Finally, Herbert Bayer's amazing chart below, the "Succession of Life and Geological Time Table" extends the timeline from the birth of the earth to the appearance of man - tying geologic history and the evolution of life together in one chart. It appeared in his "World Geo-Graphic Atlas" of 1953.

Herbert Bayer, Succession of Life and Geological Time Table, 1953

March 13, 2012 - 1,596 New Maps Added

2011-12-19T21:52:50-08:00

1,596 new maps and images have been added to the David Rumsey Map Collection, bringing the online collection to 30,599 maps and images. Included in this addition is Bowles' 1733 Geography Epitomiz'd, an early example of information visualization; Abraham Bradley's 1805 Post Road Map of the United States; Aaron Arrowsmith's General Atlas of 1817; a group of U.S. Mexican War broadsides and maps; Mitchell's 1855 Universal Atlas; a group of 214 individual maps, charts, broadsides, ephemera, and manuscript maps, several of which are listed separately below; Sonnenschein and Allen's 1880 3D Royal Relief Atlas; Erwin Raisz' 1944 Atlas of Global Geography and 1964 Atlas of Florida; and Richard Harrison's important 1944 Fortune Atlas for World Strategy. All titles may be found by clicking on the View links or images below. Or click here to view all 1,596 new maps and images.

Geography Epitomiz'd. Of The Stars And Planets. Of The Sun And Moon. Of the Air and Meteors. The Terms of Geography Explain'd., 1733
Bowles, Thomas; Bowles, John, London
A remarkable series of cartouches and tables present the summary of geographic and cosmological information. Includes text and list of continents, countries, capital cities, and their coordinates. A very early example of information visualization. View Map

Map of the United States, Exhibiting the Post-Roads, the situations, connexions and distances of the Post-Offices, Stage Roads, Counties & Principal Rivers, 1805
Bradley, Abraham Junior, Washington, D.C.
Abraham Bradley published the best maps showing in detail the roads used to move the U.S. mail in the late 18th and early 19th century. This copy is the 2nd edition or state of this map, with printed date of 1804 but with estimated date of 1805 based on the naming of Michigan Territory which was formed in 1805. View Map

A New Juvenile Atlas, And Familiar Introduction To The Use Of Maps: With A Comprehensive View Of The Present State Of The Earth, 1814
Melish, John, Philadelphia
This is Melish's first school atlas, followed in 1816, 1818, and 1820 by Melish's Universal School Atlas which uses seven of these maps, omitting England, Scotland, and Ireland, and adding a Hemispherical World Map (see our 4519.000 for the 1820 edition). Melish based this atlas on Laurie and Whittle's atlas of the same title published in London in 1808, but added many "improvements" for the American edition. Melish states: "In the present edition, the maps and geography...have been carefully revised and improved; and the American part has been much altered, in consequence of the revolutions that have taken place in that quarter. These additions will, it is hoped, render the work an acceptable offering to the American public, particularly to youth, whose improvement in the pleasing and important study of geography is the earnest desire of the publishers..." View Atlas

Eight manuscript maps: New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Vermont, View of the Country ‘Round Pittsburg, View of the Country ‘Round Zanesville, East End of Lake Ontario, 1816
Bringhurst, William.
The state maps are dated 1816; the other three maps are undated. The Ontario, Pittsburgh and Zanesville maps are copied from similar maps that appear in Melish's "Geographical Description," most likely the 1820 or 22 edition because of the rounded corners which do not appear in the earlier editions of 1815 and 16. The state maps are copied from Scott's Gazetteer of 1795. The penmanship is very good. All maps in outline color. Relief shown by hachures and shadings. View Maps

A General Atlas, Being A Collection Of Maps Of The World And Quarters, Their Principal Empires, Kingdoms, &c. Containing Fifty Eight Maps And Charts, 1816
Carey, Mathew; Warner, Benjamin, Philadelphia
The maps in this atlas result from a collaboration between Carey and Warner, using maps from their prior publications. This was probably published in a small edition and was an attempt to serve the market with a cheaper and smaller version of the folio General Atlas by Carey. This atlas is not listed in any of the references; we are aware of only four copies. View Atlas

A New General Atlas, Constructed from the latest Authorities, By A. Arrowsmith, Hydrographer to the Prince Regent, Exhibiting The Boundaries And Divisions, Also The Chains of Mountains and other Geographical Features Of All The Known Countries In The World, 1817
Arrowsmith, Aaron, London
This is the first edition of Arrowsmith atlas published in 1817. Although the maps are not large, they are dense with information. This complete atlas features 53 copperplate maps, drawn by Arrowsmith and engraved by Sidney Hall, with a few engraved by Thomson in collaboration with Hall. View Atlas

Ancient Geography, As Connected With Chronology, And Preparatory to the Study of Ancient History By Emma Willard (with) A System of Universal Geography, On The Principles of Comparison and Classification; By William Channing Woodbridge ... Illustrated With Maps and Engravings; And Accompanied by an Atlas, 1824
Willard, Emma, Hartford
Willard did not yet have an atlas to accompany her Ancient Geography - she first issued that atlas in 1827. Of particular interest is the plate "Progress Of The Roman Empire, Illustrated By The course Of The River Amazon" in which Willard uses the course of the Amazon and its tributaries to make a time chart of the Roman Empire. Woodbridge and Willard discovered that they shared similar approaches to teaching geography and so decided to collaborate on this book. View Book

Twelve Broadsides and Maps Illustrating The U.S. Mexican War, 1846 to 1855
Various Publishers, Various Places
This groups of maps and broadsides show the progress and battles of the U.S. Mexican conflict and the aftermath. Several of the broadsides are highly decorative with maps, views, portraits, and tables of text. View Maps

A New Map Of California, 1852
Gibbes, C.D., Stockton, California
Early state map, inaccurate yet elegant. Graphically, it is exceptionally well done. Wheat: "This was the most elaborate map of California that had yet appeared. It is beautifully designed and drawn, and includes a large number of the mining towns, though it cannot be entirely commended for accuracy." A portion of this map was published as Gibbes' New Map of the Gold Region in California, 1851, which was also issued in the Stockton Directory and Emigrant's Guide to the Southern Mines. View Map

A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics Of The World. With a special map of each of the United States, Plans of Cities &c. Comprehended in seventy five sheets and forming a series of One Hundred And Twenty Nine Maps, Plans And Sections, 1855
Mitchell, Samuel Augustus, Philadelphia
Early 1855 edition. Color lithographed title page. This copy belonged to Judah Chase (with his name gold stamped on the cover) who was a noted Blue Hill, Maine, Sea Captain and owner of the Brig Thomas M. Lyon. This ship sailed from Havre, France, at the end of March, 1836, and sank in a heavy gale off the Island of Jersey - but the crew was saved. The fine condition of this atlas suggests that it remained in Captain Chase's library and never went to sea. View Atlas

Thirty Maritime Charts, 1800 to 1907
Various Publishers, Various Places
This group of sea charts ranges from the west coast of South America to Cape Cod to San Francisco Bay. Most are by the U.S. Coast Survey. View Charts

Thirty Seven Maps to Accompany the Reports of the General Land Office, 1951 to 1876
U.S. General Land Office, Washington D.C.
A group of very early General Land Office surveys showing Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, New Mexico and the United States. View Maps

Ten United States County Atlases, 1862 to 1885
Various Publishers, Various Places
Includes the first county atlas published in the U.S., Berks County, Pennsylvania. Also, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; Franklin County, Pennsylvania; Androscoggin County, Maine; Steuben County, New York; Saint John City and County, New Brunswick, Canada; Logan County, Ohio; Daviess County, Kentucky; Leavenworth County, Kansas; and Cedar County, Iowa. All include maps, views, directories, and other information considered useful at the time. View Atlases

Two Editions of Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas, With Physical Geography, And With Descriptions Geographical, Statistical, And Historical, 1864 and 1870
Johnson, A.J., New York
The 1864 and the 1870 editions of Johnson's world atlases, showing the United States during the U.S. Civil War and after it. View Atlases

Illustrated Atlas Of The City Of Richmond, Va., 1876
Beers, F.W., No Place
A scarce atlas of Richmond a decade after the end of the Civil War. Wonderful detail on buildings and their owners, parks and public buildings. This copy is undated on the title page, but dated 1876 on the original front cover. A second edition was published in 1877. The index calls for seven views of Richmond that are not present in this copy and appear to never have been bound in, indicating that some copies were issued without the views (a common practice among the Beers). We have made two large composite maps of Richmond and Manchester. View Atlas

Royal Relief Atlas of All Parts of the World. Consisting of 31 Maps, With Physical, Political, and Statistical Descriptions facing each Map, 1880
Sonnenschein, W. Swan; Allen; Bevan, G.P., London
Raised relief maps. The maps are presented flat and a second copy with raised relief accomplished by embossing the paper. First edition, followed by editions in (1881) and 1885. Similar (perhaps copied from) to Woldermann's relief atlas in German. Phillips attributes this to G.P. Bevan. View Atlas

Department of the Interior, Census Office. Sixteen Maps Accompanying Report On Forest Trees Of North America, 1884
Sargent, C.S., New York
Loose in a folio. 10th census information. Show distribution of trees and types of trees. None of this information appears in any of the census atlases. Maps are printed in color and loose in plaid paper covered boards with cloth ties and a label printed with the above title. View Maps

Atlas of Global Geography. 1944
Raisz, Erwin, New York
On the jacket it states that this is an "entirely new kind of atlas - A beautiful and informative book of 'global' maps, giving a plane's-eye view of tomorrow's geography..." Inside dust jacket's back cover: short biography of Dr. Edwin Raisz, Photo by Bacharch. Raisz perfected a unique style of hand drawn cartography that was a great contribution to 20th century cartography. More information about him may be found at www. raiszmaps.com. Maps in color. With paper dust jacket. View Atlas

Look At The World: The Fortune Atlas For World Strategy, 1944
Harrison, Richard Edes, New York
Richard Harrison produced in this remarkable atlas a unique view of the world for the "air age." These maps are precursors of our ubiquitous satellite maps of today, yet hand drawn with great cartographic skill. View Atlas

Atlas of Florida, 1964
Raisz, Erwin, Gainesville
Maps in full color, many thematic. Raisz perfected a unique style of hand drawn cartography that was a great contribution to 20th century cartography. More information about him may be found at www.raiszmaps.com At the back of the book is a fold-out road map of Florida. Covers are dark green marbled paper covered cardboard 36x27 with title "Atlas of Florida by Erwin Raisz and associates with text by John R. Dunkle. Prepared in the Department of Geography, University of Florida. University of Florida Press, Gainesville." View Atlas

Old Maps Online - Historical Maps Search Portal

2012-03-04T19:42:27-08:00

Old Maps Online www.oldmapsonline.org is a search portal for historical maps from five different map libraries in Europe and the United States. The David Rumsey Map Collection is a participating library. The search interface is similar to the MapRank search that is used on the Rumsey site. As of March 1, 2012, about 60,000 historical maps are in the search portal. It is expected that the number of participating libraries will increase over the coming year, along with the number of maps in the portal. Below is the opening screen of the search portal:

The search interface for Old Maps Online, www.oldmapsonline.org

December 21, 2011 - 1,163 New Maps Added

2011-12-19T21:52:50-08:00

1,163 new maps and images have been added to the David Rumsey Map Collection, bringing the online collection to 29,004 maps and images. Included in this addition is Emma Willard's 1829 History of the United States, one of the first historical school atlases published in the United States; all the illustrations, maps, and plates from the 1861 Ives Expedition up the Colorado River; the 1873 Beers Atlas of Long Island, New York; a fascinating Hieroglyphic Atlas of the U.S.; images and plates from the Macomb 1859 Exploring Expedition in the U.S. West; and a scarce 1878 Atlas of Marion and Lynn Counties, Oregon. Also the 1880 Atlas of Prince Edward Island, Canada; the final composite and remaining maps of the Karte des Deutschen Reiches 1893 series; the complete Composite Image and all 164 aerial photographs of San Francisco in 1938 (View Composite Image or Index in Google Earth Browser); and Herbert Bayer's important World Atlas from 1953. All titles may be found by clicking on the View links or images below. Or click here to view all 1,163 new maps and images.

	A Series of Maps to Willard's History of the United States, 1829 Willard, Emma, New York Emma Willard's maps in this school atlas are some of the earliest published maps depicting historical events in the formation of the United States. The maps are thematic and very well drawn. Emma Willard was an important teacher and school leader in the first half of the 19th century in the U.S. She believed that girls and young women should study geography and maps and this atlas is part of her many published school texts that further those goals. View Atlas
	Report Upon The Colorado River of the West, Explored in 1857 and 1858, 1861 Ives, J.C., v. Ecloffstein, F.W., Washington, D.C. Originally we put online only the maps from this report, now we have added all the plates and images by Mullhausen, Egloffstein and others. This is the scarce Senate issue with four maps by "Baron" Egloffstein. Egloffstein used a unique engraving process to achieve a superb rendering of topographical features; he used the same technique in the map he drew for Macomb's Report. Of the maps in Ives's Report Wheat said "The two maps were drawn by F.W. Egloffstein...the first...is one of his best." Rare in this form with the two additional geological maps in color wash. These only appear in the Senate issue. They are the same as the two "normal" maps that appear in the House and Senate issue, but they have colors overlaid to show geological formations. View Report
	Atlas Of Long Island, New York, 1873 Beers, F.W., New York One of the rarer Beers New York area atlases. View Atlas
	A Hieroglyphic Geography Of The United States. Part 1 Containing The States Of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut And New York, 1875 Heermans, Anna A.; Cogswell, Charlotte B., New York This atlas contains very small state maps filled with "Hieroglyphic" illustrations and views for each state, followed by a page of text. The text pages decode the "Hieroglyphic" images and text on the maps. Unusual use of maps, text, and image to teach geographical information. Apparently there are additional parts (not present here) that cover other states in the U.S. View Atlas
	Composite Image and Sheets 502 to 674, Karte des Deutschen Reiches, 1893 (various dates, 1880 to 1910) Reichsamt fur Landesaufnahme, Germany Our project of scanning and putting online the 674 sheets of the Karte des Deutschen Reich, 1893, is completed - this addition adds the last 346 map images and increases the size of the large composite image to all 674 maps (the image is 390 GB, 401,000 x 332,000 pixels, downloadable as georeferenced 3.6GB JP2). View Composite Map
	Report of the Exploring Expedition From Santa Fe, New Mexico, To The Junction of the Grand and Green Rivers of the Great Colorado of the West, In 1859, Published in 1876 Macomb, J.N.; Newberry, J.S.;Egloffstein, F.W. von, Washington D.C. We have added the illustrations and plates by J.N. Newberry to the Egloffstein map, which Wheat calls "one of the most beautiful maps ever published by the Army." Egloffstein made his map in 1864. The publication of the map and the report were delayed by the Civil War. View Report
	Historical Atlas Map Of Marion & Linn Counties Oregon, 1878 Williams, Edgar., San Francisco This is the only county atlas made of an Oregon county in the 19th century. Its maps and views are very similar in style to those in the Thompson and West California county atlases. The Edgar Williams Company published no other atlases. View Atlas
	Illustrated Historical Atlas Of The Province Of Prince Edward Island, 1880 Meacham, J.H. & Co.; Allen, C.R., Philadelphia With views, portraits, a list of patrons of the atlas, and land ownership maps. Provincial atlases of the Canadian Maritime Provinces are scarce. View Atlas
	Arbuckles' Illustrated Atlas of Fifty Principal Nations of The World. 1890 Arbuckle Bros., New York Exquisite illustrations and brilliant color. The maps were also issued as individual cards with the coffee products. Maps surrounded by representative scenes from each country. Paper covers and bound with string on the left-hand side. Arbuckle Bros. also issued an Illustrated Atlas of the United States in 1889 View Atlas
	Composite Image and Sheets 1 to 164, San Francisco Aerial Views, 1938 Ryker, Harrison, Oakland We have completed the Composite Image and put online a set of 164 spectacular, large format, sharp, black and white vertical aerial photographs partially overlapping images covering San Francisco in 1938. Resolution generally better than one foot and much higher with high contrast features. Handwritten date on index map indicates photographs taken in August, 1938. Owned by the San Francisco Public Library. View Composite Image in Luna Browser. View Composite Image and Views 1-164 in Luna Browser. View Composite Image or Index in Google Earth Browser. View Composite Image or Index in Google Earth Application.
	The "Chevalier" Commercial, Pictorial and Tourist Map of San Francisco From Latest U.S. Gov. and Official Surveys, 1915 Chevalier, August, San Francisco A map of San Francisco showing important buildings which are drawn in vignettes on the map. Also showing public improvement described in the Legend as Car Lines. Proposed Tunnels ... Railroads. At the bottom of the map is the publisher's statement "The Exposition City 1915" Full color map bound in brown card board covers with title " 'Chevalier' Illustrated Map & Guide Of San Francisco ( The Exposition City)." With Stamp "Panama-Pacific -International. Exposition. San Francisco California 1915," with the exposition building delineated just west of Fort Mason. Title hows Chevalier's Trade Mark vignette. This is a reduced size version of the wall map published in 1911 and 1915 and is also a reduced version of the pocket map edition of 1904. View Map
	World Geo-graphic Atlas, A Composite of Man's Environment. Geography, Geology, Demography, Astronomy, Climatology, Economics, 1953 Bayer, Herbert; Container Corporation of America, Chicago Lavishly illustrated with drawings and graphics. Editor and designer Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) was prominent in the Bauhaus movement and personally did considerable map research for the atlas. This clear and concise volume relies upon an attractive juxtaposition of physical and political maps, text, thematic maps, illustrations, cross-sections, graphs, and diagrams. Many of the graphics are truly original yet demonstrative of important concepts.From the Preface: "This book is called "WORLD GEO-GRAPHIC ATLAS" because it includes, in addition to GEO-graphic maps, many GRAPHIC illustrations of subjects closely related to modern geography." The atlas demonstrated the post-World War II geopolitical and economic situation. The international maps of this English language atlas are from the Instituto Geografico di Agostini. Maps of the U.S. are by Rand McNally and Company. Relief shown as combined hachures, shaded relief, and hypsometric tints; bathymetry also tinted. Many insets of the vicinities of urban areas. View Atlas