Manhattan in Maps: 1527-1995 |  | Authors: Paul E. Cohen, Robert T. Augustyn
Publisher: Rizzoli
List Price: $50.00
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 308055
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 164
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 9.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0847820521
Dewey Decimal Number: 912
EAN: 9780847820528
ASIN: 0847820521
Publication Date: August 15, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780847820528 | | • | BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Amazon.com Review
From crude woodblock engravings depicting 16th-century explorers' first glimpse of New York Harbor to the latest satellite photographs of Manhattan, the rare maps of New York in this book offer a unique look at the city's evolution over the past 400 years. Opening with early Italian and Dutch antiquarian maps, the book charts the development of ethnic neighborhoods and the Manhattan grid in the 19th century, as well as the labyrinthine subway system of the 20th century. Each of the 65 color plates, many never before published, accompanies an essay on the changing metropolis as expressed in the map's details. While the maps are as beautiful and engrossing as any works of art, they also reveal the rich history of New York's urban and social fabric, offering a stunning collective portrait of the world's first modern city.
Product Description
"...the city's first atlas of historical maps...destined to have a profound and positive influence on twenty-first-century New York."--from the foreword by Tony Hiss
This lavishly illustrated volume explores New York's urban and social history through rare and beautiful maps of the city produced during the past four hundred years and collected from archives and libraries throughout the world. From a crude woodblock engraving depicting Giovanni da Verrazano's first glimpse of New York Harbor in the sixteenth century to the latest satellite photograph of Manhattan, these important documents offer an unprecedented "avenue to New York's past," as the authors write in their preface-- a fascinating collective portrait of the evolution of America's oldest major city.
Many of the 65 color plates reproduced here have never been published before, and each is accompanied by an engaging essay on the changing physical and social contours of New York as revealed in the map's details and provenance. Opening with a chapter on the discovery of New York Harbor as depicted in sixteenth-century Italian maps, the book explores the bustling Dutch trading outpost of New Amsterdam (the original name for New York), the city as a British colony in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the rise of New York as a port city in the eighteenth century, the Revolutionary War period, and the development of the Manhattan grid, public squares, and parks in the nineteenth century. The city's myriad "worlds within a world" are shown in unusual maps of such diverse subjects as ethnic neighborhoods, midtown vice, and the subway system. Each entry cites the map's date of creation and publication, cartographer, medium, and the institution or private collection where the map is archived. A bibliography and complete index are also included, making this book an indispensable resource for all those interested in New York history, urban history, and antiquarian maps.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 5-star-text 1-star-maps October 1, 2007
PATRICK SWEENEY (NY, NY United States)
I only wish I had the access to the maps that Augustyn and Cohen had in the preparation of this book. Unfortunately for the reader, these maps are not in the book. What's in "Manhattan in Maps" are photographs of maps which in the case all but 6 of the maps are reproduced in a manner which lets you see the outline of Manhattan and no detail in the map whatsoever. There should have been someone involved in the production of the book who was familiar with other books of this type and included for each map some section enlarged to actual size. Some of the maps featured appeared to have been reduced 10x such as a 72 inch map shrunk to 7 inches. The text is wonderful. If the book is every republished, I hope the editors take heed of the reviews here.
 Great Gift for Your Favorite Manhattanite January 9, 2006
A. Ross (Washington, DC)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a beautiful book for both those who are fascinated by maps and those with a deep interest in the history of New York City. The preface explains that, "The richness of New York's cartographic heritage is unique among the major cities of the world." It goes on to outline a number of reasons for this, including the city's founding by mapmaking mavens (the Dutch) during a cartographic boom time, its initial status as a commercial interest, its later status as a Revolutionary War battleground, and so on. The selections are spread more or less evenly throughout the four and a half centuries and each is accompanied by an excellent elucidating essay. My own favorites are some of the later, more thematic ones such as an 1834 fireman's guide, an 1842 water pipe diagram, an 1853 insurance company survey, the 1920 ethnic survey, and the 1973 midtown vice map.
Some reviewers have referred to this in an apparently derogatory manner, saying it is a mere "coffee-table" book, to which one can only say that it would be a welcome addition to any New Yorker's coffee-table. It certainly won't satisfy ultra-serious cartographers or historians, but the quality of the writing and research is well beyond what is commonly found in so-called mere "coffee-table" books. In addition to the usual sources (Library of Congress, British Library, New-York Historical Society, New York Public Library), the authors have tracked down maps in archives in Spain, Italy, Holland, and perhaps most impressively, about a third of those presented in the book reside in private collections. Indeed, it's somewhat baffling that people complain about the size of the reproductions -- just be glad they were made available to be seen at all! Not to mention the practical limitations of reproduction: the original dimensions of most of the maps range from 12" x 18" to 90" x 135". These maps were made to cover walls, general headquarters planning tables, no book could possibly make them legible! In some cases, portions of maps are blown up for a detail view, but these don't reproduce very well. The original photos and scans simply don't support the detail and the results are pixilated. This small production problem aside, the book is beautifully produced from a typographic and color standpoint, and is well worth having or giving as a gift to your favorite Manhattanite.
 Great book, screaming for a larger edition January 13, 2003
Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I know I'm jumping on the bandwagon here, but the maps are disappointing because they're too small to be scrutinized. The text, however, compensates greatly for this flaw. The chapters are concise but not a word is wasted. I found the section on the British invasion of Brooklyn as well-written and gripping as any thriller. I can only hope that they are planning to come out with a larger edition for the illustrations.
Small Maps, but wonderful commentary November 13, 2001
Jeremy M. Naylor (Boston, MA United States)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
While I agree with one reviewer that the maps depicted in the book are small and difficult to read (more due to the apparent custom of making 17th and 18th century maps totally illegible in any case rather than the editors' layout of them), the commentary accompanying the maps is very illuminating and interesting. The authors also chose to use maps highlighting, for example, '70s-era police practice, '20s-era political classifications and a map of the subway along with the more conventional surveyor's maps; truly a very interesting collection. A good companion to any history of pre-20th century NYC, such as Gotham.
Tiny, illegible maps. Useless. May 2, 2000
24 out of 29 found this review helpful
The maps are miniscule, reproduced to fit into a single spread, where they are squeezed between commentary. The type on them is so small and blurry that it was impossible to read, even with serious magnification. This book was a complete and total disappointment. Instead of an informative, legible reference, Manhattan in Maps is nothing more than a "coffee table" book, and not a very good one at that. If you're looking for maps you could actually refer to and learn from, this is not the book for you. Hopefully, someone will get the hint and put out a quality folio of these valuable maps.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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