1864 - 1777 Valentine - Des Barres Map of New York City and Harbor

David T. (Thomas) Valentine (1801 - 1869) served as the Clerk of the Common Council of New York City. He edited and published a series of New York City almanacs and fact books entitled Manual of the Corporation of The City of New York. Valentine's Manual, as it came to be called, included facts about the City of New York, City Council information, city history, and reported on the progress of public works such as Central Park. The production of this annual manual was the responsibility of the Clerk of the City of New York, a position held at different times by D. Valentine and by Joseph Shannon (fl. c. 1850 - 1869), who also produced a similar manual. Valentine used his manual to reproduce some of the rarest and most important maps of New York City ever created. More by this mapmaker...

Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres (November 22, 1721 - October 24. 1824) was born in Switzerland in 1721. He is known to have attended the University of Basel where he tutored under the great mathematician Daniel Bernoulli. Following his studies in Basel, Des Barres immigrated to Great Britain where he continued his education at the Royal Military College of Woolwich. Sometime in the 1850s Des Barres joined the American Regiment of the Royal Army in the capacity of Military Engineer. He was assigned to the team surveying the St. Lawrence River where he worked with the legendary cartographer Samuel Holland as well as the young James Cook. Afterwards Des Barres went on to survey and map the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Des Barres work is known for its stunning combination of accuracy and aesthetic appeal. Augustyn, in Manhattan in Maps writes that with Des Barres, "nautical charting took an unprecedented leap toward greater precision and graphic sophistication". Upon his return to England in 1774, Des Barres was assigned to compile all of the most current cartographic information on the New World into the seminal Atlantic Neptune, which has been described as the "most splendid collection of charts, plates and views ever published" (National Maritime Museum Catalogue). Des Barres would eventually return to Canada where he lived another forty years as a wealthy land owner and active political figure. He died at the ripe old age of 103, one of the few centenarians of the early 19th century. Learn More...