About Our Maps & Prints

Almost all maps on the market today were produced since the invention of the printing press. Printing methods such as copper plate engraving, steel engraving or lithography were used. These hand-printing methods require the skilled hands of craftsmen. Only artists would use such time consuming methods for printing today. Therefore old maps are beautiful, decorative works of art that are suitable for framing. The best ones also contain significant historical information.

During the 1880's, they began using photography in the printing and coloring of maps. This was considered a great technological advance because they could print many more maps at far less cost making them affordable to everyone. But, it marks the beginning of the end of the collectible period because maps produced using mechanical methods instead of hand-printing methods look much like the maps produced today.

Many maps were left uncolored by their publishers and have been colored at a later date. It is often difficult or impossible to tell if coloring is original. When done well, later hand coloring enhances the appearance of old maps and prints and makes them more desirable to most people.

Maps of Antiquity also carries prints of places, because they are a good adjunct to the maps. During the nineteenth century there were several periodicals such as Harper's Weekly and Ballou's Drawing Room Companion, which regularly published wonderful views of cities and towns. They can readily be distinguished from maps in the catalog listings by the use of SOLID CAPS in their titles. Map titles appear in Bold.

This web site lists only a small part of our map collection. It would be impossible to list everything we have. If you have a special map or type of map that you are seeking, let us know and we will search our inventory for it. Most of the time we have only one copy of a map. If you call to order a map that has been sold, we may have something that is similar to it. The following books have been used as reference for the antique maps listed within this web site:

The following books have been used as reference for the antique maps listed within this web site:

Burnett, Robert B., Pictorial Guide to Victorian New Jersey, NJ Historical Soc., Newark, 1986.
Clark, D., Index to Maps of the American Revolution in Books & Periodicals, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1974.
Fite E.D. & Freeman, A., A Book of Old Maps Delineating American History, Harvard, Univ. Press, 1926.
Goss, The Mapping of North America, 1990.
Guthorn, Peter J., U.S. Coastal Charts 1783-1861, Schiffer Pub. Ltd., Easton, 1984.
Jolly, D., Maps in British Periodicals Part I, Brookline Mass., Jolly, 1990.
Lane, C.W. & D.H. Cresswell, Prints of Philadelphia, Phila. Print Shop, Phila. 1990.
Moreland, C. & D. Bannister, Antique Maps, Longman, N.Y., 1983.
Paullin, Charles, Atlas of the Historical Geography of the U.S., Carnegie Inst. of Wash., 1932.
Pedley, Mary Sponberg, Bel et Utile The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers, Map Collector Pub., London, 1992.
Phillips, P., A List of Maps of America in the Library of Congress, GPO, Wash., 1901.
Phillips, P., A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, GPO, Wash., 1909.
Portinaro, Pierluigi & Franco Knirsch, The Cartography of North America 1500-1800, Crescent Bks, 1987.
Sellers, John & Patricia VanEe, Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789, 1981.
Snyder, J. The Mapping of New Jersey, Rutgers Univ. Press, New Brunswick, 1926.
Tooley, R.V., Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, Liss, NY, 1971.
Wheat, J. & C. Brun, Maps & Charts Published in America Before 1800, Holland Press, London, 1978.

1409 Main Steet (Route 28) | Chatham, MA 02633 | Tel: 508-945-1660