Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802-1887). Boston. (Boston: 1838). Published in An Illustrated Atlas, Geological, Statistical and Historical of the United States and Adjacent Countries. First edition. Hand colored engraving. 11 1/4 x 14 inches at neat line. Sheet: 13 x 16 3/8 inches. Minor marginal spotting.
$425.00
Out of stock
Nice example of the first edition of Bradford’s map of Boston, on the cusp of its landfill transformation into a modern metropolis. The map shows the city in its early 19th-century configuration, just before major land-reclamation projects would dramatically reshape its shoreline.
Bradford’s rendering shows the compact Shawmut Peninsula, Boston’s historic core, divided into twelve wards, with a street network fanning out from the Old State House. Surrounding neighborhoods are shown in distinct pastel colors: Charlestown and its naval facilities to the north, Cambridgeport across the Charles River, East Boston still separated as an island, and South Boston in the early stages of its development. The map captures the city’s original coastline, with careful hachuring to suggest tidal flats and bathymetric rings suggesting harbor depths.
Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802-1887) of Boston began his ventures into atlas publishing in 1835 with the Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Abridgment of Universal Geography, Modern & Ancient. His next effort, published in the same year, was A Comprehensive Atlas: Geographical, Historical & Commercial. A Comprehensive Atlas exists in at least four variant forms, all dated 1835, but some clearly published a year or two later. In 1838, Bradford published a completely new atlas in a larger and more detailed format, which included extensive text on the history, economics and geography for the corresponding maps. His interests were primarily in educational publishing, and he was one of the first mapmakers to show Texas as an independent country. Bradford’s publications represent an important contribution to American cartography.
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