Bartlett's Boston Pictorial Map of Boston. Also entitled: Bartlett's Illustrated Map of Boston, or, Stranger's Guide Showing the Public Buildings, Places of Amusement & Its' Architectural Features

New York: G.H. Bartlett. Printed by Hatch & Co., New York, 1871. First Edition. Blindstamped, and Gilt-Stamped, Cloth. Very Good. An exciting pictorial map of Boston that captures not just the lay-out of the city and some of its surrounding towns and cities, but also a good serving of its visual appeal and with its depiction of vehicles in motion, its pulse. This is a fun map without the caricature, goofy exaggeration and manic visual humor which typifies the genre. The map measures about 61 by 82 cm when fully open. Dotting it are many buildings, with the greatest cluster in downtown Boston. There are close to 100 buildings or landmarks represented. Small vignettes capture a street car and a train, both in motion. Ships are shown in the harbor, a sailboat and racing sculls, with several oarsmen propelling each of them, animate the Charles River in the map. The cloth binding measures 16.5 by 11 cm. Attached to the back of the front board, or front endpaper, is a booklet of seven leaves of thin paper, or 13 pages. The booklet, 15 by 10.5 cm in size, is all advertisements for a wide variety of Boston businesses, two to four per page. Given that the primary object is a map, it is not surprising, though, that a good number of the ads relate to transportation -- steamship companies, and railway lines, including companies long gone and routes, a very distant memory, such as the Fitchburg and Cheshire R.R. and its promise of the quickest means of getting to various points in the Adirondacks. Most of the advertisers are no longer around, but there are a few familiar companies among them, such as Jordan Marsh. The brochure also provides a list of eleven hotels, none of which exist today. A physical copy of this map is scarce. The only such copy showing on OCLC First Search is at Brown, and there is no reference in their listing of the advertisement pages. Also we could find none for sale on the internet when we catalogued this item. (Inventory #: 20249)