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Description

Striking example of the Valentine's Manual edition of Montressor's map of Manhattan.

Montressor, born in Gibralter, was the chief English engineer in America. He commenced his survey of New York City in December 1765, at a time when the Stamp Act was spurring the creation of the Sons of Liberty and pushing the Colonists toward Revolution. The work quality was hurried and not terribly accurate, owing in part to the local hostilities.

The map extends from Greenwich to Crown Point and includes roughly 50 names of places, streets, roads, buildings, etc., and includes a large inset of New York Harbor, complete with soundings.

The Montressor plan of New York is the first large scale plan of the city, predating the John Ratzer plan by one year. Earlier plans were issued by Bellin in 1764 and Maerschalck were on a much smaller scale.