Map 12: Plan de la Ville et du Port de Boston
Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) Paris, 1764 About this Map This rare plan of Boston is beautifully engraved and colored…[ more ]
About this Map This rare plan of Boston is beautifully engraved and colored in the best style of eighteenth-century French manuscript maps. It is the earliest detailed plan of Boston published in France, and was probably based on an English survey that Bellin copied for use during the French and Indian War. The map shows streets, public buildings, wharves, Beacon Hill, the Common, and other points of interest. It includes a key to public buildings, a brief description of the city's history, and a list of the wards into which the town had been divided in 1735. Jacques Nicolas Bellin was hydrographer to the king and published numerous fine maps under the auspices of the French marine office. This plan does not appear in any of his standard atlases and can be found only in a few major institutions.
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