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1865 Louis Prang Map of Central Park, New York City
CentralPark-louisprang-1865$1,750.00
Title
Central Park, New York, A picturesque Guide through the whole Park showing all the improvements up to June 1865.
1865 (undated) 9 x 35 in (22.86 x 88.9 cm) 3.513888889
1865 (undated) 9 x 35 in (22.86 x 88.9 cm) 3.513888889
Description
An altogether extraordinary hand colored birds-eye view map of New York City's Central Park prepared and printed in 1865 by the famous Boston lithographer Louis Prang. Graced with Prang's extraordinary engraving and fine lithography, this is certainly the most beautiful map of Central Park issued in the 19th century. Covering the entire park, Prang's meticulously detailed map illustrates pathways, bridges, lakes, and buildings, as well as some individual trees, and rocks. All are pictorially rendered in profile. Many of streets and avenues surrounding the park are also noted. The Park's famous wall, only partially constructed in 1865, is here shown in its completed glory.
This map is exceedingly scarce though Prang clearly had high hopes for it. A note in the lower left corner reads
This extraordinary map reveals Central Park as conceived by the Landscape Architects, and indeed 'artists,' Vaux and Olmsted. Vaux and Olmsted were awarded the task of designing Central Park in 1853 by the City Common Council. Olmsted's vision drove the overall design while Vaux concentrated his attentions on bridges, buildings, and other structures within the park. The creation of Central Park, which was to consist of some 800 acres of public forest, pathways, promenades, lakes, bridges, and meadows, was a seminal moment in civic urban design. The park itself was designed as a whole with every tree, pond, and bench meticulously planned. Olmsted wrote: 'Every foot of the parks surface, every tree and bush, as well as every arch, roadway, and walk and been placed where it is for a purpose.'
Historian Gloria Deak writes,
The OCLC identifies only three examples held by Yale, the New York Historical Society, and Cornell. Although the present example appears to be an independent issue, a variant example of this map was also included in the equally scarce Louis Miller's Guide to Central Park and Mercantile Directory, published in 1866.
This map is exceedingly scarce though Prang clearly had high hopes for it. A note in the lower left corner reads
This Plan will be published in different forms, plain and colored; thin paper to fold, heavy paper to frame. It will also be issued with the surrounding Building Lots, to serve as a Property Map to Owners and Real Estate Agents. Orders will be attended to promptly.Despite Prang's grandiose intentions, this never seems to have happened and all examples are today very rare.
This extraordinary map reveals Central Park as conceived by the Landscape Architects, and indeed 'artists,' Vaux and Olmsted. Vaux and Olmsted were awarded the task of designing Central Park in 1853 by the City Common Council. Olmsted's vision drove the overall design while Vaux concentrated his attentions on bridges, buildings, and other structures within the park. The creation of Central Park, which was to consist of some 800 acres of public forest, pathways, promenades, lakes, bridges, and meadows, was a seminal moment in civic urban design. The park itself was designed as a whole with every tree, pond, and bench meticulously planned. Olmsted wrote: 'Every foot of the parks surface, every tree and bush, as well as every arch, roadway, and walk and been placed where it is for a purpose.'
Historian Gloria Deak writes,
There was a staggering amount of work to be done to transform the area into a blend of pastoral and woodland scenery. This involved the design and construction of roadways, tunnels, bridges, arches, stairways, fountains, benches, lamp posts, gates, fences and innumerable other artifacts. It also involved the supervision of an army of about five thousand laborers…Olmsted, to whom most of the credit goes, insisted on seeing the multidimensional project as a single work of art, which he was mandated to create. For this purpose, he ventured to assume to himself the title of 'artist.'Today, because of Vaux and Olmsted's efforts, New York Yorkers, ourselves included, have the privilege of enjoying what is, perhaps, the finest example of a planned urban public recreation area in the world.
The OCLC identifies only three examples held by Yale, the New York Historical Society, and Cornell. Although the present example appears to be an independent issue, a variant example of this map was also included in the equally scarce Louis Miller's Guide to Central Park and Mercantile Directory, published in 1866.
CartographerS
Louis Prang (March 12, 1824 - September 14, 1909) was a Boston based publisher of lithographs and chromolithographs active in the latter half of the 19th century. Prang was born in Breslau Germany where he studied printmaking and engraving from his father, a noted master of the calico process. Around 1850, Prang immigrated to the United States fearing political persecution in Germany after the failed Springtime of the Peoples Revolution, making him a 48er. In the United States, Prang partnered with another German Printmaker, Julius Mayer, establishing the short-lived Prang & Mayer firm. Ten years later, in 1860, Prang started his own chromolithography firm, L. Prang & Co. Prang quickly established himself as a publisher of post cards and other small prints, which were popular as gifts and collectibles. He was especially successful with mass-produced overviews of major battles in the U.S. Civil War, and his 'War Telegram Marking Map' was memorable for being sold with colored pencils, allowing buyers to track the movement of armies over time. Many consider him to be the "Father of the American Christmas Card". Prang also issued larger format chromolithographs of popular art and even printed his own magazine to the effect Prang's Chromo: A Journal of Popular Art. Through his magazines and limited edition printings, Prang was influential in establishing the popularity of the chromolithographic process in America. More by this mapmaker...
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Calvert Vaux (1824 - 1895) was a British architect and landscaper who is best remembered for his co-design, with Frederick Olmstead, of New York City's Central Park. Born in London in 1824, little is known of his early life, though it is recorded that, at 9 he was apprenticed to London architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham, a proponent of the Gothic Revival Movement. Vaux worked for Cottingham until he was 26 years old, honing his skills and building a reputation as a skilled draftsman. During an exhibition of his watercolors in 1851, Vaux caught the attention of landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing. Downing was looking for a partner to fulfill his revolutionary vision of urban architectural-landscaping. Dowing recruited Vaux to design buildings, bridges, and structures, while he focused on the overall landscape design. Vaux accompanied Downing to the United States where, in 1854, he gained U.S. citizenship and founded the American Institute of Architects. Vaux's partnership with Downing lasted approximately two years and resulted in a number of significant works, including the grounds of the White and Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. In 1852 Downing passed away in a tragic accident. At the time Downing was working on a landscape design for New York City's Central Park. In a decision that would forever change the American urban landscape, Vaux called in the fledgling landscape designer Frederick Olmstead to fill Downing shoes. Though Central Park was their first joint project, Vaux and Olmstead proved a magical combination, creating what many consider to be the finest planed urban recreation area in the world. Following the completion of Central Park, Vaux and Olmstead formed an official business partnership and went on to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Morningside Park in upper Manhattan. They planned one of the first suburbs in Chicago, Riverside, and were commissioned to design parks for Buffalo, NY, Milwaukee, WI, and Rockwood Park in Canada, among others. Vaux ended the partnership in 1872 and went on to collaborate with George Kent Radford and Samuel Parsons. However, in 1889 he again joined forces with Olmstead to design Downing Park, as a memorial to his mentor. Vaux tragically passed away on November 19, 1895, when he drowned in Brooklyn, NY. Learn More...
Condition
Very good. Backed on archival tissue for stability.
References
Rumsey 5301.000. Burrows, Edwin, and Wallace, Mike, Gotham: A History of New York to 1898, p. 794 (illus).