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A striking and richly detailed early pictorial map of mid-19th-century Manhattan, combining urban cartography with architectural portraiture to create an illustrated panorama of the city’s built environment. This map, entered into copyright in 1870 by G.H. Bartlett, offers a comprehensive guide for visitors and residents at a time when New York was rapidly emerging as a commercial and cultural capital.
The map is oriented with north to the left and stretches from the Battery to roughly 61st Street. It lays out the Manhattan street grid in fine linework and highlights dozens of individual buildings and landmarks through finely rendered lithographic vignettes. Notable illustrations include:
- Trinity Church, City Hall, and Castle Garden at the southern tip;
- Hotels like the St. Nicholas Hotel, Metropolitan Hotel, and Fifth Avenue Hotel;
- Tammany Hall, the Stock Exchange, etc.
- Theaters including Booth’s Theatre, Wallack’s, and the Bowery Theatre;
- Ferry terminals, piers, and a lively harbor dotted with sidewheelers and packet ships.
The bottom margin includes a note that: “The nearest Route to the various Building’s shewn on this Map are indicated thus ↑”—referring to small arrows on the grid.
This work reflects the popularity of architectural view maps in the decades following the Civil War, as cities grew in population and stature. Bartlett’s map offers a rare fusion of spatial layout and pictorial splendor, and remains an invaluable visual record of New York in the early Gilded Age.
Tinted lithographed versions were made as well.
![[Bowery / Chinatown / Lower Manhattan] Map of Delancy's Farm Western Part](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/59560.jpg)
