Lowber, John C. | Three works relating to the physical geography of Philadelphia

Lowber, John C.

Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia; to which are prefixed, the original charter, the act of incorporation, and other Acts of Assembly relating to the City; With an Appendix, Containing the Regulation of the Bank of the River Delaware, the Portraiture of the City, as Originally Laid out by the Proprietor, &c. &c. Philadelphia: Moses Thomas, 1812; [With:] A Proposal for Altering the Eastern Front of the City of Philadelphia with a View to Prevent the Recurrence of Malignant Disorders on a Plan Comformable to the Original Design of William Penn; plus folding plan. Philadelphia: William Fry, 1820; [With:] The Will of the Late Stephen Girard, Esq. with a Short Biography of His Life. Philadelphia: Robert and Thomas Desliver, 1832

Three works bound in one, 8vo (220 x 135 mm). Engraved folding plan of Philadelphia by Thomas Holme, struck from the original plate, folding plan; title backed with tissue, minor repairs and reinforcements to map, closed tear to center fold of map, some browning, contemporary marginalia to text and map, a few stray spots and stains. Contemporary sheep, morocco gilt label to upper cover; rebacked and recased, rubbed, front free endpaper backed with tissue. In custom clamshell case, spine gilt-lettered.

An early nineteenth-century printing of the laws of Philadelphia — with a restrike of the famed Holme map

William Penn appointed Holme surveyor-general of the new colony of Pennsylvania in 1682, and proposed the now-famed map in the following year. Burden writes: "This printed map is the first to depict an English colonial North American town and is of considerable importance." Philadelphia was the first city in colonial America to be laid out beforehand on a plan. Penn had believed that it was important to organize the city in a manner that would prevent the spread of fire and disease, threats that frequently ravaged European cities.

It is likely that this Sammelband was assembled by Henry Paul Beck, who extensively annotated parts of the present text.

PROVENANCE

Henry Paul Beck (signature on title, bookplate, manuscript annotations throughout and on the map) — Jay Snider (bookplate)

REFERENCE

Austin 166; Burden, Mapping of America 557; Rink 2458; Sabin 4236; Shaw & Shoemaker 2644; Snyder, City of Independence 17