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Description

Rare locally-published city plan of Richmond, Virginia, issued in 1888 by Cooke, Howard & Company.

The map image is articulate, including clean lines and a relatively uncluttered image, while also including much information about important public buildings, lot numbers etc. The city’s first street railway, installed the same year of publication, is illustrated running down Main Street.

There is an extensive business directory below the title. The firms listed represented a range of economic activities, from "Art Rooms" to "Oyster Dealers", and of course, tobacco. A bold red overstamp highlights the map’s seller, West, Johnston, & Company, who also added their own printed folder for the map.

Several decades before this map was issued, in 1862, West & Johnston gained fame as the Civil War-era publishers of Bucholz's map of Virginia.

Rarity

OCLC locates a single example, in The Library of Virginia. This is not surprising, as such Southern town plans, even from as late as the 1880s, are scarce both in commerce and institutional holdings.

This is only the second separate town plan of Richmond that we have had in over 20 years of business.

Condition Description
Folding map mounted in original green paper folder, lettered: "MAP OF RICHMOND, VA. West, Johnston & Co. Richmond, Va. 1888." Small tab tear in the left edge where mounted to folder.