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Historic Maps and Views of New York
A first-of-its-kind collection of twenty-four historic maps and views of New York City, specially bound so they can be removed easily and framed in standard-size frames.
Historic Maps and Views of New York is a unique and fascinating collection of twenty-four New York maps and views dating from the 1600s through the present. Included with each map is the original printing information and brief text that places it in historic context and further illuminates its qualities.
Put together by a map expert based at the Library of Congress, the selections include one of the earliest maps of Manhattan by Johannes Vingboons; views of New York Harbor in the early 1700s; an elaborately detailed map of Central Park; a complete topographical map of the island of Manhattan; an early subway map; overviews of Brooklyn and Queens; and much more. Each unique and stunning representation of New York is exquisitely reproduced to show off its color and detail, making it ready for display in any home, office, dorm room, or classroom.
Historic Maps and Views of New York is a unique and fascinating collection of twenty-four New York maps and views dating from the 1600s through the present. Included with each map is the original printing information and brief text that places it in historic context and further illuminates its qualities.
Put together by a map expert based at the Library of Congress, the selections include one of the earliest maps of Manhattan by Johannes Vingboons; views of New York Harbor in the early 1700s; an elaborately detailed map of Central Park; a complete topographical map of the island of Manhattan; an early subway map; overviews of Brooklyn and Queens; and much more. Each unique and stunning representation of New York is exquisitely reproduced to show off its color and detail, making it ready for display in any home, office, dorm room, or classroom.
56 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2008
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About the author
Vincent Virga
20 books30 followersVincent Virga has been called "America's foremost picture editor." He has researched, edited, and designed picture sections for more than 150 books, including Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States and the full-length photo essay The Eighties: Images of America. He is also the author of A Comfortable Corner. He is working on a third novel, Theatricals.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 29, 2017
As my recent review of How the States Got Their Shapes said, I'm a sucker for maps, cartography, and books about maps and cartography. As such, Historic Maps and Views of New York, by cartographer extraordinaire Vincent Virga, was a truly special book for me.
More an art book than a book on cartography per se (indeed, each plate in the book is removable and suitable for framing), Historic Maps and Views of New York is as advertised; containing maps and panoramic images from the earliest days of colonial New Amsterdam to a satellite image from NASA, the book provides fascinating insight to how New York City has grown and developed over centuries. Among the more fascinating plates in this book are a topographic map of Manhattan, created for the survey that proposed the now-familiar street grid in New York, which beautifully shows the original layout of the island; an early American map of Richmond, New York, Queens, and Kings Counties, which reminds us that the separate boroughs of New York City were once separate political entities, each with several cities, villages, and hamlets within them (New York municipal politics is . . . complicated, to say the least); and the early IRT subway map, which shows how little, yet how much, New York public transportation has changed. (And this is not to mention the several panoramic views of the city that lack the many skyscrapers with which we all have become so familiar.) Containing images from throughout New York City's long history, each plate in Historic Maps and Views of New York both stands on its own and works as a part of a larger, cohesive whole.
Virga has done a fantastic job with this art book, particularly as his selection is precise and discerning. (Indeed, the primary flaw of The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011, another coffee-table book along similar lines, as much as I enjoyed it, was that its focus was significantly wider, and thus lost my interest for periods at a time.) Historic Maps and Views of New York is a worthwhile addition to the collections of any maphead and geography wonk, as Ken Jennings might put it, and has become a favorite of mine in a relatively short time.
More an art book than a book on cartography per se (indeed, each plate in the book is removable and suitable for framing), Historic Maps and Views of New York is as advertised; containing maps and panoramic images from the earliest days of colonial New Amsterdam to a satellite image from NASA, the book provides fascinating insight to how New York City has grown and developed over centuries. Among the more fascinating plates in this book are a topographic map of Manhattan, created for the survey that proposed the now-familiar street grid in New York, which beautifully shows the original layout of the island; an early American map of Richmond, New York, Queens, and Kings Counties, which reminds us that the separate boroughs of New York City were once separate political entities, each with several cities, villages, and hamlets within them (New York municipal politics is . . . complicated, to say the least); and the early IRT subway map, which shows how little, yet how much, New York public transportation has changed. (And this is not to mention the several panoramic views of the city that lack the many skyscrapers with which we all have become so familiar.) Containing images from throughout New York City's long history, each plate in Historic Maps and Views of New York both stands on its own and works as a part of a larger, cohesive whole.
Virga has done a fantastic job with this art book, particularly as his selection is precise and discerning. (Indeed, the primary flaw of The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011, another coffee-table book along similar lines, as much as I enjoyed it, was that its focus was significantly wider, and thus lost my interest for periods at a time.) Historic Maps and Views of New York is a worthwhile addition to the collections of any maphead and geography wonk, as Ken Jennings might put it, and has become a favorite of mine in a relatively short time.
December 23, 2018
A nice souvenir that I got from the bookstore at Columbia University. Maps printed with decent quality.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews