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1896 U.S. Geological Survey Map of Philadelphia and Vicinity (Pennsylvania and New Jersey)

PhiladelphiaVicinity-usgs-1896
$150.00
Philadelphia and Vicinity Pennsylvania and New Jersey. - Main View
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1896 U.S. Geological Survey Map of Philadelphia and Vicinity (Pennsylvania and New Jersey)

PhiladelphiaVicinity-usgs-1896


Title


Philadelphia and Vicinity Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
  1896 (dated)     39 x 30 in (99.06 x 76.2 cm)

Description


A scarce and attractive 1896 U.S. Geological Survey Map of Philadelphia and Vicinity. Centered on metropolitan Philadelphia, the map covers from Frederick, PA, to Washington< New Jersey, and from Brandywine, Delaware to Northampton, PA. Throughout this map offers the typical high level of detail - down to individual buildings - typical of U.S.G.S. work. It further shows topography, city streets, rail lines, roads, and marshlands. The present example is uncommon for its magnitude, as most U.S.G.S. maps were made to much smaller specification. The whole is dissected and mounted on linen. Folds into its original leatherette binder. Unlike most U.S. Geological Survey maps, this map is scarce, with only six examples being identified in the OCLC.

Cartographer


The Office of the Coast Survey (later the U.S. Geodetic Survey) (1807 - present), founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gallatin, is the oldest scientific organization in the U.S. Federal Government. Jefferson created the "Survey of the Coast," as it was then called, in response to a need for accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first superintendent of the Coast Survey was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under the direction of Hassler, from 1816 to 1843, the ideological and scientific foundations for the Coast Survey were established. Hassler, and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Hassler lead the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Under the leadership A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey did most of its most important work. During his Superintendence, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was steadfast advocate of American science and navigation and in fact founded the American Academy of Sciences. Bache was succeeded by Benjamin Pierce who ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was in turn succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson who was Superintendent from 1874 to 1881. In 1878, under Patterson's superintendence, the U.S. Coast Survey was reorganized as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS or USGS) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. More by this mapmaker...

Condition


Very good. Some wear to original linen backing. Else clean.