De la ville au patimoine urbain (The urban inheritance of cities, stories of form and direction) by Andre Corboz

The University of Quebec Press has just published a collection of essays by Corboz in its Urban Inheritance (History) series. It was brought to the attention of Historic Urban Plans when the publishers requested a digital image from our collection of the 1799 plan of Bath, England to reproduce in the book. This image was used in chapter 11, titled A network of irregularities and fragments: genesis of a new urban structure in the 18th century. In this chapter, Corboz discusses urban planning as it was transformed from the formal and militaristic to the irregular yet planned city, “networked” for the good of its inhabitants and to promote trade and social stability. His primary examples are Paris and Rome, both ancient, complex cities, resistant to the symmetry of Renaissance town planning. Bath, while also an ancient city, was enlarged by the visionary architect John Wood the Elder, who used large-scale Roman structures as his model for buildings, squares and crescents; uniform but not rigid. Planners, engineers and architects of the 18th century began to view cities physiologically, parts of a whole that needed to function together dynamically. Corboz’s essay is interesting and well illustrated with several plans, including Nolli’s Rome (1748), Patte’s Paris (1772) and L’Enfant’s Washington (1792). This essay is written in English, most of the book is in French. 315 pages.

Niagara, A History of the Falls by Pierre Berton

Pierre Berton (1920-2004), the popular historian and author of several books on Canada’s history, published Niagara in 1992. The book has been reissued by the State University of New York, Albany in trade paperback with dozens of photographs, maps and other illustrations that highlight this force of Nature.

Birds-eye views of Niaraga Falls, NY 1882

The Henry Wellge birds-eye view of Niaraga Falls in 1882, available from Historic Urban Plans, shows the city and falls as a popular tourist destination – probably its intention – and includes the location of several mills and other industries along the Niagara River. Berton’s book, however, graphically describes another side of the falls:  that of a magnet for adventurers, hucksters, businessmen, and promoters of all stripes. From Annie Taylor, the 63 year old widow who survived a trip over the falls in a barrel, to King Camp Gillette’s proposed utopian mega-city of Metropolis, powered by and encompassing the falls; from brash entrepreneur William T. Love’s ‘Model City’ that resulted in a few houses and mile-long canal when the depression of the 1890s ended his real estate scheme, to the Hooker Chemical and Plastic Corporation’s decision to dump industrial waste into that unfinished canal.

Hubris, greed, suicide, corruption, and much more makes Berton’s Niagara entertaining and illuminates a side of the Honeymoon Capital of the World that any city official wouldn’t want mentioned.

Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps

A Map of the West-Indies, 1715

An exhibit now on display at the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, TX titled Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps, is part of a two and a half year celebration of Texas exploration and development that began in 2007.  The exhibit moves to its last stop, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, Fort Worth, in April 2010.

Sixty four maps from the Yana and Marty David collection illuminate Texas history over a 460 year period, from 1548 to the present time. One of the maps in the collection and part of the display is Herman Moll’s A Map of the West-Indies, published in 1715. Moll was a cartographer and publisher who worked in England. His map of the West-Indies was dedicated to William Paterson Esq., a Scotsman who was one of the founding directors of the Bank of England. Paterson was also an investor in the failed Scottish settlement in Panama called “Darien”, which Moll illustrates in the West-Indies map, along with other, better established port cities such as Cartagena and St. Augustine. There’s also an inset plan-view of “The City of Mexico in New Spain” (Mexico City) that includes a legend listing important buildings and sites.

The map is particularly interesting as a historical record of the discovery of the New World:  Moll noted the route taken by Christopher Columbus and sites where he landed, and included information about navigable waters and harbors, shoals, shipping and trading routes, and identified hundreds of place names. What is now Texas is still listed as part of “Louisiana” and west Texas is merely identified as a “country full of Beevs” (beavers). The name Texas does not appear in the map; in fact, it wasn’t until 1718, three years after the publication of Moll’s West-Indies map, that Guillaume Delisle published his famous “Louisane” map of North America and used, for the first time, Texas as a place name.

Still, Moll’s map illustrates that what is now Texas is a significant part of the Gulf of Mexico region and the entire Caribbean. The level of detail is especially valuable for anyone interested in colonial and Native American settlements, early exploration and discovery in the Americas. 

A facsimile of Moll’s map is sold by Historic Urban Plans, Inc. at its website www.historicurbanplans.com

 

In Memory of Connie Reps

  Porus Olpadwala with John and Connie Reps in 1996

Friends and family will gather in memory of Connie Reps this Sunday, June 21^st at 1:30 p.m. at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. The afternoon will start with a slide show of Connie throughout her lifetime, followed by a 2:00 p.m. performance of A. R. Gurney’s play “Love Letters.”  After the play, Connie’s friends are asked to enjoy refreshments on the terrace and reminisce about her with loved ones.

 I don’t remember the first time I met Connie. It could have been earlier than the Thanksgiving dinner I spent at her and John’s house in Cayuga Heights in 1983 but maybe not. I was a graduate student of John’s and had nowhere to go for the holiday. Not having much money, I brought her a plant – a Christmas cactus – as a hostess gift. She was charming then, as always, and mentioned the thriving cactus to me for several years afterwards.

 Connie was smart and she was kind, a special person to be around because she was interested in people, remembering them and their interests, and able to engage them on practically any topic. I wish I’d known her better.  

For details on how John Reps started Historic Urban Plans in 1964, and about his map collection, go to www.historicurbanplans.com

– Julee Johnson

Living Waters: nature and history of the lower Great Lakes

Map of the Great Lakes 1755

Journalist and writer Margaret Wooster’s latest book Living Waters: Reading the Rivers of the Lower Great Lakes was published this year by the State University of New York Press. The book is a collection of original stories about the history – natural and cultural - of the watery paths that are the St. Lawrence and Niagara Rivers, and Lakes Erie and Ontario. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reviewed Living Waters on the back cover, writing “. . . the best way to nuture an environmental ethic in society is to help people see, feel, love and have faith in actual places. These river stories cultivate that intimacy.”

Historic Urban Plans, Inc. is pleased to have contributed an image to the book, on page 75, that of “Partie Occidentale de la Nouvelle France” by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. This map is called The Great Lakes 1755 in our catalog at www.historicurbanplans.com

Bellin was a cartographer (hydrographer) for the French Navy, skilled at compiling information from the latest discoveries into highly detailed sea charts and maps. The region depicted in Bellin’s map had been explored by the French and others as early as the 1500s, with trappers, missionaries and settlers traveling in the area since that time. In summary, it was well explored and Bellin’s map demonstrates this knowledge with his accurate portrayal of the geography of the Great Lakes – not only its waterways but mountains and other natural features, Native settlements and tribes.

“Partie Occidentale de la Nouvelle France” is especially interesting for North Americans because it shows “the West” as it was considered in the mid-18th century, and not the East Coast colonies. Wooster uses the map to help illustrate the history of the conflict between tribes of the Confederacy, and the movement of Native Americans from the more developed east to the less populated west.

Living Waters is highly recommended for linking geology and early settlement with the present-day conservation concerns of the largerst freshwater ecosystem in the world.

On Sale Now: The New World

New World in 1570

One of my greatest pleasures is to peruse map and book catalogs. If I had money enough, and time and knowledge, I’d have a wonderful collection of maps, atlases, globes, posters and other ephemera. It’s hard to resist the lure of a beautiful hand-colored atlas or a wonderfully important early map. So I greatly enjoy receiving the online catalogs from Old World Auctions (www.oldworldauctions.com), which holds online auctions several times a year and specializes in antique maps, atlases and other geography and travel-related prints and documents. Historic Urban Plans has both purchased maps from OWA and sold maps through them.

The latest auction is now underway, closing on May 20th. One map that caught my eye is Lot #92, Americae Sive Novi Orbis, Nova Descriptio, published in 1573 by Abraham Ortelius. Other than its importance as one of “the most famous maps of America, and one that had an enormous influence on the future cartography of the New World” (from OWA’s catalog), an original of this map was once in the collection of Historic Urban Plans and a facsimile is still offered by HUP in our catalog (www.historicurbanplans.com). The version available from OWA is uncolored and a later state of the map; the Historic Urban Plans reproduction is from an earlier state (1570) and is reproduced in full original color. It’s astonishing that within 80 years of the voyages of Columbus, a Belgium map-maker would produce a map of North and South America that is essentially correct in its outline – no “California as an island” or other fictions. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s astonishing accurate for its time. The Baroque decorative details and beautiful coloring are extra, adding to its enormous visual appeal. The facsimilie available from Historic Urban Plans costs $10.00 plus $6.00 for shipping. The starting bid for the 1573 version at the Old World Auctions website is $4,000.00. For what you get, both are excellent values.

A word on the Historic Urban Plans blog header

Ithaca, New York in 1836

The image on the HistoricUrbanPlans Blog is taken from Henry Walton’s 1836 view of Ithaca, New York.  Walton was an artist from eastern New York who settled in Ithaca as a young man to work as an illustrator and artist, and specialized in portraits.  He was versatile, however, completing several views of Ithaca during his time in the village. This one is titled “East View of Ithaca, Tompkins County, NY” and shows a bucolic scene looking westward from Eddy Street down Seneca Street. The details of downtown and West Hill are especially well illustrated and were used for the blog’s header image in part because Historic Urban Plan’s office/warehouse is located on West Seneca Street in a building that wasn’t built until about 100 years after this view published. People who know Ithaca will recognized the Clinton House Hotel (now known as The Clinton House), the handsome pillared building on Seneca Street at the center of the image. This view is reproduced by Historic Urban Plans both in color (as shown) and a larger, black and white version. The website includes more information about sizes and prices: www.historicurbanplans.com.  Walton also drew Ithaca from the west looking east and a downtown scene of Ithaca. There may also be a view of Ithaca looking north towards Cayuga Lake, but I’ve never seen it. Walton left Ithaca for California when word came about the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, in 1849. His whereabouts after leaving Ithaca aren’t known. The original lithograph from which our reproduction was made is in the collection of the Tompkins Trust Company, a local bank, which owns other Ithaca views by Walton.

Phoenix, Arizona – 1885 and 2009

Irvine's Block, Phoenix, Arizona, 1885

Historic Urban Plans will be represented at the Museum Store Association’s Conference and Expo, May 3-4, 2009, at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix.  HUP’s booth at the Expo is #828. In preparation for the trip, I’ve uploaded a small section from our birds-eye view of Phoenix, drawn by C.J. Dyer in 1885. This small vignette shows a handsome brick commercial building and what looks like a livery stable behind it. In the foreground is a large team of horses drawing several wagons. Although Phoenix had a population of about 2,500 in 1881, the view shows a large, bustling, prosperous city, with wide streets laid out in a grid, canals filled with water in the vicinity of the city, a large public square in the center of town, a central business district on Washington Street and outlying farms surrounded by trees. Whether or not this was an accurate view of the city, it certainly looks attractive. Prospective settlers from back east would have been convinced this was the promised land. To see the full image, Wikipedia has reprinted Dyer’s 1885 birds-eye view in its entry on Phoenix, Arizona.  Historic Urban Plans also includes a thumbnail of this view in its online catalog; go to www.historicurbanplans.com to see it and any of the other 400+ images available for sale at the site.

Changes at The Alamo

The Alamo as it appeared in 1852

I read in today’s Museum Store Association’s Culture & Commerce News Brief that The Alamo has posted the position of Gift Shop Manager. The Alamo is one of our customers and fairly new to us, so I hope this is a planned-for change and not a problem in the making.  I’ve uploaded a drawing of the building as it appeared in 1852, taken from one of our most handsome city views - San Antonio. I wish the staff at The Alamo and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (who manage the site) all the best during this transition.