Rare Edition With Seal of the City of New York
One of Dripps' excellent later pocket maps of New York City.
Dripps used his landmark wall map of the city (1851) as a base map, but modifies it to account for new development. Most notably, he adds Central Park, in minute detail, based upon Vaux and Olmstead's plan of 1855, but with some alterations to account for later alterations.
The map covers the entire island of Manhattan as well as parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Hoboken and Jersey City. The map shows all streets and even some individual buildings. The names and tracts of Manhattan's original land owners are superimposed over the grid. Where Columbia University now stands, this map reveals a 19th century Lunatic Asylum.
The Hudson and the East River are filled with detail as well: depth soundings are given for both waterways, and ferry routes between Manhattan, New Jersey and Long Island are shown.
Central Park is shown in its final layout according to the Olmstead. A number of Ferry lines and other important details are shown.
Rarity
This 1863 map is very rare on the market. We note an example illustrated by Rumsey, but no examples at auction or in dealer catalogs.
A later edition with issued, with a slightly different title (New York and Vicinity), but retaining the seal.