The Antique Map: A Must-Have Item

And Pretty-Much Required for all Philadelphia Residents

I have been framing on Pine Street for over 2 years now and have seen dozens of historical Philadelphia maps come through the shop. I have grown to really appreciate them independent of any cartographic knowledge and shamefully limited study of city history. Fortunately, my clients are very well informed and articulate and friendly (not to mention stylish and fascinating ;)! I have learned much through them, and recently this book has been suggested to me and is in my Amazon cart as I type. I look forward to furthering my knowledge on antique maps and doing subsequent blogs on the topic.

All the maps here are large format uploads, so clicking on them will greatly increase their size.

These are two of my favorites. You'll note they are very similar. They are unusual in orientation (West is at the top, North is right), and they both have gorgeous botanical motif borders, though the borders are not identical. They are both hand-colored with various effects.

This one is diminutive but unique in its mileage circles which center on Independence Hall. (City Hall is in every other consideration the city's center.) I also like that the neighborhoods are labeled, and those names still exist today. I thought Northern Liberties was a modern convention, like NYCs Tribeca and Noho, but lo, the area has been designated with that name since the city was planned, or so a client informed me.

And here are 4 more that have been through the shop recently. You'll note the bottom 2 are very similar as well.

And as for the framing of them, I love to do them in ornate dark brown mouldings with wheat-colored mats, and a fillet if the client is agreeable. Here are 3 recent examples.