1984 Bryan-Royster Pictorial Map / View of Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nantucket's maritime Past and Present.

This is a rare 1984 pictorial view of Nantucket, Massachusetts, drawn by artist Joseph David Henry Ware Bryan-Royster. It depicts the town of Nantucket, the main settlement on the eponymous island, along with important historic structures and landmarks from across the island illustrated in the margins.

A Closer Look

The view is oriented towards the north-northwest, so that Main Street and nearby parallel streets are roughly horizontal. Streets, beaches, wharves, and other features are labeled throughout, and individual buildings are illustrated. Sixteen sites, features, and events are marked with numbers and portrayed in the margins, from the town's oldest house (built 1686) to the Sankaty Head Lighthouse to the Shenandoah, a large schooner (tall ship) built in 1964 and used as a cruise ship and for maritime education. The Great Point Lighthouse (built in 1818 and destroyed in a storm in March 1984, the same year as publication) appears towards the right within the main view above a small map of the island. At the bottom-center is a depiction of the intersection of Main and Federal Streets as it appeared before the Great Fire of 1846, which destroyed roughly one-third of the town.

Publication History and Census

This view was prepared in 1984 by local artist Joseph David Henry Ware Bryan-Royster, perhaps in commemoration of the Great Point Lighthouse. It does not appear in any institutional collections and has come to the market only once, at a local auction house, whose description noted that it was produced in a limited run of 200 prints. It is stylistically similar to, but much rarer than Shemin's Nantucket Town (ref: Nantucket-sheminroyster-1973), with which Royster was also involved. The message in the bottom margin ('To Polly from Henry') appears to have been individualized among the 200 examples.

Cartographer

Joseph David Henry Ware Bryan-Royster (1950 - present), born Joseph D. Bryan but better known as Henry W. Royster, is a Massachusetts-based artist and illustrator known for his pictorial, historical maps of Nantucket. Bryan-Royster was born and raised in Southern California but moved to Nantucket in 1971, working as a house painter, sign painter, and commissioned artist on the island for the next sixteen years. He was involved in the production of at least two pictorial maps of Nantucket in 1973 and 1984, respectively, the first in conjunction with Mickey Shemin.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. A few minor edge repairs and reinforcements.