Surveying the Shore

Description

A cartographic historian from the renowned Harvard Map Collection interweaves a history of New England with ninety superb examples of the cartographer’s art. Since British, French, and Dutch colonists vied for the territory we call New England, cartographers have drawn the region to suit their political and commercial goals. Cartographic historian Joseph G. Garver analyzes and illuminates ninety historic maps, connecting them with key developments in New England history and demonstrating how a community’s maps reflect its view of the world. Setting out to help readers to understand some of the aesthetic choices, political attitudes, and economic constraints that have shaped the making of maps in this part of the world, Garver has done much more. Surveying the Shore is a rich and compelling history of New England, from the arrival of the first white men to the early twentieth century, revealed in some of the most beautiful examples of the mapmaker’s art. Garver has culled his maps from the Harvard Map Collection, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, the State Archives, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, and Houghton Library. The result is a treasure for map lovers and history lovers alike.

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